Useless
by Sayresth
Summary: Issei Hyoudou isn't the Sekiryuutei. He has a common sacred gear, and it's outshined by the other members of the peerage. Only taking 4 pawn pieces, he'll struggle to survive in a world where power doesn't appear out of nowhere. How will he react to the other pawn who is stronger than him? The Harem King won't give up so easily...
1. If strength won't do

**Yeah... I got tired of seeing those stories of Issei being the most powerful being in the universe, easily creating a harem, and defeating enemies like they are ants. I mean, I don't say that they aren't good, but I kinda got tired of them.**

**By the way, English isn't my first language so... point out any grammar mistakes. Thanks!**

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Issei Hyoudou was weak. He didn't have an all mighty dragon as a sacred gear. He didn't have a Longinus as a weapon, neither he would have the strength to wield them. He only had the common Twice Critical, and it wasn't enough. Because of all this, he had failed to protect Asia, and she would die right in front of him. He couldn't save Asia, but he would make her killer pay. Yuum- No, Raynare, she would pay, even if he died in the process, because if he couldn't get stronger, he would get faster, smarter and it the process maybe even touch some boobs!

He had left Asia in a bench, she was still alive but not for much time. If someone removed a sacred gear from the wielder's body, she or he would die. And that was exactly what was happening. Issei couldn't hold back his tears. He was sad, angry, hopeless and inside of him the rage was growing stronger. He stood up, and send a death glare at Raynare who was standing with a cocky grin.

"You… You monster! How could you do this to Asia! You will pay! You will pay even if it's the last thing I do in my life!"

Issei summoned his Sacred Gear. It looked like a red gauntlet that covered half of his arm, leaving his fingers uncovered. In the center of it, there was a big green gem which was glowing brightly, fueled by the rage that was possessing Issei. He charged at Raynare, who easily jumped over him, and started to laugh at the failed attempt.

"You fool! Don't you get it? Even if you managed to hit me, it wouldn't matter! Thanks to Asia-chan now I can heal any injuries!" Issei didn't listen. He needed the help of Koneko and Kiba, but he didn't know how much time they would be down there.

He threw another punch with his left hand, but before he could even reach her, two light spears pierced through his legs. The pain was unbearable, he could barely stand but yet he grabbed both spears and pulled them away. The blood kept pouring all over the ground, but he couldn't back off. Buchou said that he had taken 4 pawn pieces, and that was weird for just a common sacred gear. She said that he could even make a harem if he reached the High-Class demon, he couldn't die!

His vision was starting to fade, but something made him recover. A pair of wings appeared in his back, and his sacred gear started to glow. The gauntlet was disappearing, but transforming in something different. The jewel reappeared in his palm, and the rest of his hand was covered by the thin red metal of his Twice Critical. However, the rest of his left arm was exposed.

Energy was building up for another boost, but this time, it wasn't directed to Issei.

"Take this! Critical Cannon!" A wave of yellow energy appeared from the gauntlet, towards the fallen angel. She didn't expect something like that and was hit by the full power of the blast.

Issei fell to his knees, and his sacred gear morphed back to his original form. He had beaten her… right?

The smoke disappeared and revealed an unharmed, but naked Raynare. Issei's nose started to bleed, not sure because of her body or because the internal damage was greater than he thought. Raynare blushed a bit, but quickly remade his clothes, if you could call them that.

"You surprised me there. The blast wasn't that strong, and the little bit of damage was repaired easily. Let's end your pain…" A new light spear appeared in Raynare's hand, ready to deploy.

"I'm not done yet…" Issei didn't know how to fly, but he could use his wings to make higher jumps. He flapped his wings and jumped, dodging the spear and prepared another punch for Raynare. Although she saw this coming, and jumped back, she miscalculated the distance and her mistake was punished with a punch in her right leg. They both fell to the ground.

Issei hissed in pain as he landed in his injured legs, but he recovered and grabbed both of Raynare's arms, preventing her from healing her leg. But he made one mistake that left his weakest spot in a bad position. The fallen angel kneed him right in his nuts, and he fell right in her left wing. The wings in Issei's back disappeared as soon as he felt this pain.

"Fuuuuuu-" Issei couldn't move, the pain in his legs couldn't compare to this new pain. In despair, he bit down the closest thing he found, and it was Raynare's wing.

The fallen angel couldn't move her leg and when she tried to heal it the demon bit her wing. She punched him in the guts, and when he gasped for air, releasing her wing, she got up and gave a hard kick in his face, and he slide off to the benches.

Issei had lost. He had given his best, and he lost. He had lost, but he couldn't give up. He could lose his legs, but he would still fight. He could lose his virility, but he would still fight. He could even die, and his soul would still fight back.

Was this the end for him?...

**Some days ago…**

"So… I'm a demon now?" Issei didn't really believe it the first time she said it, but after seeing some angels trying to kill him and some bat wings appearing in his back he assumed she was right. "How?"

"When you died, I used 4 of my pawn pieces to bring you back. I was honestly surprised, as I thought that you would cost only one or two pieces. I guess you are more special than we thought." Issei looked at all the members of the club. The cute and little Koneko... The two onee-samas of the school, Rias and Akeno… and Kiba who doesn't really matter in this moment.

"You were… watching me?" Issei didn't know if he needed to felt happy or betrayed, but who could be mad with such beauty? And her boobs were very b-

"Yes, you hold something special in you, a sacred gear, and when that fallen angel approached you, we knew something bad would happen." The red headed girl explained briefly.

"Buchou, what is a sacred gear?" Issei was new to all this supernatural stuff, so it was better safe than sorry, right?  
"They are powerful items given by God himself. They can only appear in a human, but if the human becomes a demon, like you, the sacred gear doesn't disappear. These are driven by desire, the stronger you desire, the stronger the Sacred Gear becomes. " Issei couldn't help but to feel special. If being a demon involved beautiful girls, he would have become one long time ago. But he wondered…

"What sacred gear do I have?" Maybe it was one with the power to undress girls, or to become the most handsome guy in the world!

"We only know that you have one, so you need to summon it" Issei looked confused "For example, you need to think in someone very strong"

Someone strong… the strongest person he knew was...

"Come on! S*n Gok*!"Why was that censored?!

A bright light enveloped the room, and a red gauntlet formed around his left arm. It wasn't as he thought, it actually looked very useless. Maybe he could find another use…

"That's Twice Critical, it doubles your strength for a brief time…" She looked very thoughtful. How could such a common sacred gear cost so much? There must be something else in there…

"It looks… decent… So let me get this straight, Buchou is the King, Akeno is the Queen, Koneko is the Rook, Kiba is the Knight and I'm a pawn… And we can have another… rook and knight, two bishops and another 4 pawns?" Issei imagined another eight girls in Buchou's peerage… it could be AWESOME.

"We already have a bishop… but he isn't available right now. As for the pawns, it can be only one person, like you." Don't crush my dreams Buchou! At least there could be more girls!

**Back in the church…**

A boy was around the church. A very special person for him was buried in the depths of this building, and this would be the last time he would she her. The church was going to be demolished. A shame, but he couldn't stop it.

As he entered the church, he noticed a very weird lady with wings in her back and a beaten up boy. Violence couldn't be tolerated, even if it was a girl doing it.

"Hey you! Stop where you are!" The boy's short blue hair waved around his back, giving him an air of authority. But it was nothing more than a façade, as the 'angel' didn't care about his demand.

"What do we have here? How did you get through the guards?" She was now imposing authority, and the boy cowered back.

"Guards? There wasn't anybody back there. The problem is, what are you doing here?!"

"No matter… I'll kill you right where you stand!" The girl hands where covered by a green light, and a spear appeared in her hand.

"I'll like to see you try… Sandalphon!" The boy stomped the ground, and waited awkwardly. "Uh.. Sandalphon! Sandalphon! Sandalphon! Don't do this to me right now!" The boy kept stomping the ground, but nothing happened.

Raynare didn't know what he was doing, but she didn't like it. She prepared to throw the spear but a hand hold her back.

"Run! I'll hold her back!" Issei made his last stand, and tried to stop Raynare, but it was too late. She elbowed him, and threw the spear. The boy escaped in time, and quickly hided in the benches, but the explosion made by the spear fooled Raynare.

" Sandalphon…Fuck…You…" Those were the last words of the boy.

"And to finish this…" She turned back to Issei who already lost his consciousness.

"Uh… where am I?"He was at the clubroom, and Issei couldn't remember anything… The only thing he remembered was the death of Asia. He couldn't hold back his tears, but was stopped when he saw someone in front of him.

"Issei-kun…" The girl gave him a hug, which he gladly returned.

"Asia! How are you…?!" He saw the rest of the peerage in the room, and he realized something.

"Asia-chan died, but Buchou revived her… Thank you" Rias couldn't help but smile when she saw the happiness of Issei. He was grateful of what she did, or maybe he was grateful because Asia was alive. She didn't really know.

"You are right Issei, she's our new bishop. But she isn't the only surprise you'll have. You won't be the only pawn around here." Issei held a confused look and looked around the room. He saw that one person didn't belong here. It was the boy that appeared moments before he passed away.

"Uh… right. Itsuka Shidou, nice to meet you…"Shido has all the looks of an average high school boy. With blue hair down to his neck, amber brown eyes, and has straight hair and bangs. What could be so special about him?

"Uh… Hyoudou Issei…" He pulled Asia away for a bit, but failed.

"So… will you do it? No matter the prize, I'll even become a demon if I have to." Who was this guy and what was he talking about?

"Of course… with one condition. What is your sacred gear?" Rias asked the boy, who gave her a confused look.

"Oh! You mean Sandalphon? It's very hard to make it appear… but I'll show you." Buchou didn't understand this boy. He asked her to prevent the church's destruction and he would become a demon. What was so important to him in that church?

Shidou started to stomp the ground.

"Sandalphon!" A bright light appeared in the ground, and a sword came out of it. It looked big, almost as tall as him. But when he grabbed it he hissed in pain.

"Sorry… it hurts if I hold it too much."

"Is that a holy sword?" Kiba asked out of nowhere. Issei noticed the threatening look in his look.

"I don't think so… but it got really weird when I blocked one of those spears…"

"Wait! What happened to Raynare?!"

"She isn't a problem anymore. Kiba and Koneko managed to take her down. She didn't stand a chance." Issei felt sad. He was the weakest of the group. He couldn't heal, he couldn't do magic, he couldn't summon swords or have an amazing skill at fighting. He was a commoner, he couldn't even protect Asia. He was Issei, the useless.

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**Before you ask, yes it's the same Shidou from Date A Live, but i just got the character. He's cool.**

**Feel free to insult me all you want! But tell me what I did wrong to upset you! I won't get mad if it's reasonable.**

**So do i continue this or what? Because i don't know what to do with mah lyf. Yeah... **

**One last thing... Issei and the peerage aren't immnune to death. Just so you know... MUAHAHAHA**


	2. School Days without blood

**I've seen some good feedback, so I decided to continue the story. Enjoy!**

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Issei didn't know what to feel in this moment. Sure, he was happy that Asia lived, but the looks everyone give to that new boy… and what could he do? He was giving the same look. Even Kiba, who didn't really trust the guy, gave him a happy smile. He needed to work out, and not only that, he needed to investigate his sacred gear. He had taken 4 pawn pieces… and that was weird for such common sacred gear. Right now he knew that it could double his strength, and it could change and create a huge wave that didn't do any real damage. It destroyed clothes… that was very good.

Even then, the new boy outclassed him. His sacred gear was much more than he thought…

**Moments before…**

"So yeah… this is part of my, sacred gear? The mighty sword Sandalphon!" He announced proudly.

"Might I have a look at it? I'm interested in swords and such." Kiba was indeed interested in the sword, with what motive, Issei didn't know. What he did know was that Akeno was doing some paper work behind him, but she also was interested in the boy.

"Uh… The sword is heavy, but balanced. It has a holy aura… but it's decreasing. It isn't a holy sword. How did you say it got that way?" Kiba relaxed, and handed over the sword to him. He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"When you two showed up, that fallen angel threw me another spear of those, but Sandalphon absorbed it. It has a lot of surprises." A portal opened up, and the sword disappeared in it.

Issei was relieved, he only had a sword and he had trouble with it. At least he wasn't the weakest of the group. But he was wrong. In fact, he would get very jealous because of his power…

"Uhm… You mentioned that it was part of your sacred gear… where is the other part?" This time Asia was the one that spoke. She was no longer hugging Issei, and she had taken curiosity over Shidou.

"Ah yeah… Well, the other part of my sacred gear is here… please, don't take this as an offence." He blushed, and pulled his tongue. Everyone was surprised for a bit, but then Issei saw something peculiar in the tip. It looked like a very small jewel, like the one on Twice Critical but pink. Almost imperceptible.

"And what does it do?" Buchou asked, giving a curious look to the boy.

"Well, it takes the main power from other being. For example, if I'm fighting someone and I… lick her or him, I can steal their powers for a brief time." Everyone gave a surprised look, but the boy kept explaining. "However, if I can find their weak spot, the power completely transfers to me… but the weak spot normally is… that part down there… or in the chest…" Nobody said anything, but Issei snapped out.

"You… You… You bastard! That's cheating! How do you even know that?!"

"Well… trial and error? Hehe…" He blushed hardly, and Issei took that as a 'Yes, I did that and much more'

"Now now Issei, let him finish the explanation first." Rias stopped Issei before he punched him in the face. In any other situation, he would have praised the guy and maybe even ask him what to do, but right now he was the competence! He couldn't get someone more experienced than him!

"Uh… yes… In this case, you stole them completely the power and they cannot use it. However, if I kiss someone who is in true love with me, both of us will have the same power." Issei calmed down a bit. True love isn't something that appears out of nowhere, and having sex with someone wasn't as rare, but it could be prevented… Issei was still stronger… right?

Akeno finally got up and handed over some papers to Rias, who smiled when she saw the content.

"Here you have it, right now you can be the owner of the church, but you know the price, right?" Buchou was smiling, but Shidou was nervous. Demons were known because they were evil… but they looked very normal. What he truly feared was the process of becoming a demon. Would it hurt? Did he need to die to complete this ritual?

"Yes… I hope it doesn't hurt…" He grabbed the papers, and was happy to see that he was steps away from the town hall, and finally buy the church. But first there was something he needed to do.

"Buchou, can I go home? It has been a rough day…" Issei grabbed the few things he had and left the room. He heard Buchou calling him, but he was tired. Too tired to be a pervert.

It was late night, and the moon was shining down the street. Demons could see in the darkness well, so it didn't matter to him. He had been thinking, and decided to be friends with the new pawn. They were family, right? They protected each other, so it was better if they were friends. But he wanted to protect someone, not being protected. He felt someone watching him, and turned around. He was still on edge after his fight, and he didn't know if there were more fallen angels in the area. He spotted a petite girl with white hair.

"Koneko? What are you doing here?" The girl approached Issei, but stopped a few meters before reaching him.

"Rias-sama told me to follow you. She wanted to talk with you, but you left." Issei felt guilty, but he would have left anyways, as he was tired.

"Oh, sorry. I'm too tired… I'll talk with her tomorrow." He turned around and prepared to leave, but a voice stopped him.

"You are strong…" Issei was confused at the words of the girl, and he was left dumbfounded. "You managed to fight a being that could heal any injuries. You don't need to feel ashamed for losing."

"Did Buchou told you say that too?" He didn't mean to say it with rudeness, but it sounded that way. Koneko in any case, didn't show any emotion as usual, and turned around and left. Issei hoped that she wasn't angry with him.

After that incident, Issei reached home and stealthily made his way to his room. As he lay down in his bed, he realized that there weren't any injuries in his body, but he guessed that Asia healed him. How long was he knocked down? He felt like crap, and tomorrow there was school. He tried to sleep, but his left arm was itching like hell. What was happening…?

He got up, and checked his arm. It was getting red because all the scratching, plus the position he was a few moments ago didn't help. It was like his arm needed something.

He summoned his sacred gear, and the pain vanished as soon as it materialized. Why was that happening? He couldn't go out with that thing in his arm. Maybe he had abused of the power of Twice Critical, and he was getting the consequences now. Whatever it was, it didn't help him sleep.

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He reached school, and the itching of his left arm didn't reappear. It was probably what he was thinking, so need to worry about it. However, if it appeared again in middle of the class, he didn't know what to do.

"Issei-senpai! Good morning!" He turned around to see Shidou running towards him. Issei saw that he had the school uniform, so it meant that Buchou had done his magic again.

"Good morning, Shidou-kun. So… you transferred over here?" Issei didn't really know what he could talk with him. He literally met the guy yesterday.

"Yes, Rias-sama told me about it, but I didn't know it would be so early. I got up and saw the uniform in my bed."

"I guess she wanted you to be here as soon as possible… Did you know that this school only admitted girls until recently?" He kept bringing random topics, but he really should ask questions about him.

"Well… no. When I was little I lived here, but my parents moved away and obviously I had to move too… I think it was a job opportunity or something." Shidou was also trying to be friends with Issei, not only because Rias said it, because Issei defended him even when he didn't know him.

"Ah… is… is your family… well…" Issei saw the reaction of Shidou when he talked about his parents. He wanted to know, but he didn't want to be rude.

"Yes, they died… But that was long time ago, I barely remember them"

"Sorry, if you don't want to talk about it we can switch themes." Issei couldn't remember the last time he had a normal conversation. Maybe the day he met Asia, which wasn't too long ago.

"Yes… Issei-senpai, how is the life of a demon? Rias-sama told me that they don't steal souls… anymore. But since you have been more time in this…" Issei didn't want to say that until a week ago he was a human.

"Ah yeah… I don't really understand it that well, but what I do know is that if you reach the High-Class demon rank, you can get your own harem!"

"You…want a harem… I guess you are more of a demon than I thought." Shidou chuckled at his own joke.

"What's so bad about it?! I'm not going to force them…" Issei started to imagine his future as the Harem King… girls fighting with each other, and the win prize was sleeping with him! Oh man… he could already picture the palace where he would be, waking up every day with a girl…

"I guess Koneko-san was right, you really are a pervert. But for some reason, I like you." Issei stopped his imagination when he heard that last word. The words he said last night haunted him. _Maybe Shidou was gay…_

"Wha- I didn't mean it that way! I don't like you that way!" How could he misunderstand that simple phrase?!

"Thank god… this reminds me… How have you done it before me?! I'm older than you!" Issei started to chase Shidou, who started to run when he saw the look of rage in Issei's face.

"S-Senpai! I can explaaaain!"

And thus, ends the story of Shidou, who died mysteriously that day… Ok, no.

**After school.**

As soon as the classes ended, Issei's arm started itching again. He didn't know what caused it, but it was starting to become a problem. Maybe he should talk to Akeno, who seemed to handle magic very well. He was sure that the sacred gear had something to do with it. When he entered the old school house, more known as the Occult Research Club, he summoned Twice Critical to get rid of his pain. As soon as it vanished, he quickly returned his arm to its regular form.

When he entered the club, he saw that Koneko and Shidou were having a chat. He could hear the shower, so he guessed someone was in there.

"That's pretty cool. Do we have anymore cool stuff in the room?" Shidou was awkwardly chatting with Koneko, who only nodded or shook her head in response. She was eating some strange looking cookies.

"I see… Hey, senpai, I'm in the class with Koneko-san! At least I knew somebody… Everybody gave me strange looks." Maybe it was because you have blue hair. Who likes blue hair?!

"That's cool, I guess… Who is in the shower right now?" He looked over to the clothes that were spread out. They looked like Asia's clothes.

"I think Asia-san is in there… She slept here, I think." That's right… where was Asia going to live now? She didn't have a house here. Why did he leave so early? He missed so much stuff!

"That's right… This reminds me that I need to talk with Buchou…" What did she want to talk about? The amount of GOOD possibilities was amazing… Maybe she wanted to confess her feelings! And then maybe they would kiss and then he could touch her-

"Do I have to be a pervert like Issei-san to be a good devil?"

"No, he was born perverted like that." I'm right in front of you by the way!

"He has done much more than me! Why don't you pick on him?!" Issei tried to direct the fire to Shidou, but failed miserably.

"I was in love, you know! You, in the other hand, think of that with any girl that moves!"

"That was a good one." Koneko! Don't praise him! Why are they teaming up on me?!

"That isn't true! I haven't thought of it with Konek-" Issei received a death stare from Koneko, and Shidou slowly moved away from the table. Why is she mad?! Maybe she saw through that lie?!

"Okay, I DID think of that with h-" Issei was already stuck on the ceiling the moment he opened his eyes. The falcon punch he received was outstanding. Why did she get mad? He tells her a lie and she gets mad, he tells her the truth and he ends up on the ceiling.

"You know you deserve that, Senpai."

"Maybe I did… Can somebody help me? Please…"

The rest of the club had already arrived when Issei fell to the floor. Rias was bothered by something, but Issei couldn't get what was the reason.

"Ise, can I have a private discussion with you? There is something we need to talk…" Issei didn't need any more words.

"Yes, Buchou!" He happily nodded and they both left the clubroom. In the mean time, the other members of the peerage started to talk with the new pawn.

"Ise, I wanted to talk about your sacred gear" Issei was happy to talk with Buchou, but he didn't quite understand her reason.

"Uh? Then why can't we talk about that in the clubroom? I don't think it's a very private question." Rias expression saddened a bit. Had he done something bad?

"Yes, there is something else in the matter… How are you feeling right now? Are you happy in the peerage?"

"Why, of course! You all treat me very well! I couldn't be in a better situation right now!" Issei told her the truth, how could he be not happy with all of them?! He even tolerated Shidou! It was pretty good for him.

"It's good to hear that… What do you think of your battle? I know you aren't very happy with it." Issei's expression darkened. He was happy with outcome, but he didn't know what his usefulness in that battle was. He hadn't done any real damage to Raynare, even when something new happened to his sacred gear, it didn't do anything. Although he did see some boobs, they didn't matter in that situation.

"It was stupid… Even with what I had accomplished, it didn't help me at all. I managed to get some good hits at least." He tried to encourage himself, but it was useless. Like him.

"Don't say that, Ise-kun. If you had given up in that moment, she would have escaped with Twilight Healing. You even got a new form of your sacred gear." The words of Rias really cheered up the demon. He managed to slow her down! He even bit her freaking wing! It was an accomplishment!

"About your sacred gear… it's quite strange. It has the function of Twice Critical, yet you managed to create another form… It might be a rare sub-species of the original Twice Critical."

"Subspecies? You mean that it might more functions?" Issei's eyes sparkled with emotion. He had a common but strange sacred gear! It was like getting a normal sword but with fire!

"Maybe... But it might be just that 'Shoot' mode. It also explains why you took 4 pawn pieces. Still, if you don't train your body, you won't be able to withstand all the challenges you will face." Even though Rias said it referring to a real battle, Issei understood that he wouldn't be able to have sex with her, because he would pass out before he satisfied her.

"I will train my body! I'll do whatever it takes to please you!" Issei, with a new found objective and courage, was ready to train as hard as he could. He would find the secrets of Twice Critical, unlock all its potential! He knew that strength wouldn't do that much, but he could find a smart way to cheat his way to victory.

**Meanwhile, in the clubroom…**

"So, Shidou-kun, I would like to see your sacred gear in action… how about you try it with me?" Shidou was in a very awkward situation. If a random person asked you to lick her or him, how would you react? It didn't help that it was Akeno and he really didn't know her. Was it a trap? Or did she really want him to do that?! He only knew Koneko and Issei!

"Ah, well… I don't know if we are supposed to…" That was the most normal answer he found.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure the others also want to see it…" He looked around the room to see everyone else's reactions. Kiba shrugged, Koneko was having a nice cup of tea and Asia was looking with a curious expression.

"Fine… Could you lend me your hand?" Akeno gladly did as he said. Shidou sighed, and gently grabbed her hand. He should have rejected, because god knew what kind of power she had. He licked the hand for a second, before realizing something.

"You should have told me that you used more powers…" He grabbed her finger, and sucked it. He was blushing hardly, why did he accept?!

"That tickles, Shidou-kun…" He didn't know if Akeno's giggle was real, faked or both at the same time. Before he got time to stop, the door opened, and a very surprised Issei saw the scene.

"… Shidou… prepare to be eliminated." Issei summoned his sacred gear, and Shidou, out of reflex tried to stop the upcoming fist. What he didn't expect was thunder (Lightning?) to come out of his hands and stop Issei right in his tracks. Even though he didn't get hurt, it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"What… What was that?" Shidou looked at his hand to see some sparks flying out of it, but they stopped mere seconds after.

"It really worked…" Asia was left surprised, and Issei's anger became curiosity. Kiba left a relieved sigh and Koneko… well she showed a bit of surprise. Rias on the other hand, smiled brightly.

"Now you know why he is part of our peerage. It was good we found you when we did, or that power could have fall in wrong hands."

Even though Issei was curious about his strange power, he looked at his sacred gear with disappointed. Why couldn't he get all the cool stuff in one go? However, he tried to look happy and tried to hide his concerns from the other members. It was his problem after all. He didn't need to bother them with his silly mistakes or problems that he could bear with.

Later that evening, it was decided that Asia would live with Issei. Both of them were happy with the outcome, and even though she could heal any injuries, Issei was happy to think that she could protect her. But how long could he do that?...

* * *

Right now he was lying in his bed, thinking about all the changes his life was going through. Did becoming a demon make things easier? Or did it just make it worse? He had a goal now, much different than before, but there was something that bugged him. Did Buchou revive him because he was useful, or because he could be used… Why was he thinking that?! He should be grateful that she revived him! And now his fucking arm was itching again!

He looked over to it. His veins were starting to get red and they could be seen with the naked eye. He was starting to feel preoccupied about it. Did his sacred gear reject him? Did he need more control over it? He didn't know. He didn't know and that worried him. He summoned Twice Critical, and the itching was replaced with a bit of pleasure… with that, he fell into the arms of Morpheo…

* * *

He woke up before the alarm started. A soft voice was calling him, and he quickly realized who she was. Asia lived with him now, that could be a added to all the pluses of being a demon. She had woke him up, and he was grateful for that.

"Issei-san, we are going to be late to school!" A very happy Asia greeted him as soon as he opened his eyes. She was already in her school uniform, which looked very good on her.

"…You are going too? Ah, I should have figure it out sooner." He realized that his sacred gear was still in his arm, but it was covered by the sheets. "Give me a moment, I need to get dress!" It was a lame excuse, but Asia nodded happily. The girl was too innocent.

He quickly vanished Twice Critical, and saw that even though there was no itching left in his arm, the veins could still be seen. As long as they didn't hurt, there was no need for telling this to the others. He didn't need the others for such a strange thing. It would heal in its own. More like disappearing naturally. As long as he had his uniform, it would be hidden.

Turns out that Asia was on his same class. It was very good! Except for all the death stares he received later. But he was accustomed to it. It was no different from the stares he received from girls when he peeked on them… It sounds very sad if you pointed it out like that.

The itching fortunately didn't reappear which was very good. And talking about good things, Buchou said that they were going to get their own familiars.

"Familiar? What's that?" Issei sat down in the couch with Asia. In front of them, Koneko and Shidou were having a cup of tea, the last one showing interest in the new term he found.

"They are monsters or supernatural beings who are bound to their master. They can do several tasks, like gathering information or sending messages. Anything you can think them to do." That was the key word. _Anything_. Issei's mind started to develop several situations, maybe he could get a girl as a familiar! Or something that could help him get harem! The possibilities…!

"Ah, so when are we leaving?!" The enthusiasm could be seen in the sparks of his eyes.

"It needs to be nighttime and full moon, so we just need to wait an hour or so." Rias went back to his desk, and started to gather some info or something. Akeno and Kiba weren't in the room for some reason, but they would appear before nighttime.

"How was your first day in school?" Issei asked to the blonde girl to his right. Shidou was talking to Koneko, they were in the same class, so maybe they have some strange friendship where only one talks.

"Ah, everyone treated me very well! It was very fun! Except…" Issei looked over to Asia, who had a troubled look. Did something happen to her?! He said that he would protect her! "Except that I don't know how to read kanji…"

Issei let out a brief laugh. How could he be so overprotective? Who would want to harm Asia-chan?! Except the obvious… in the school there wasn't anyone.

"Oh? Is that a kitty?!" He looked over to Koneko who had a small cat in her lap. It had white fur and hazel eyes. Just like the owner.

The cat looked over to Issei, and the cat stiffened. What was so bad about him?

"That's odd…" He heard Koneko mumbling those words, before looking over to Issei. The girl scanned him with a serious face, and stopped in his left arm. What was so spe- Oh, right. **That.**

However she shook her head and made her cat disappear to lord knows where. He sighed with relieve, but then realized something. Why was he so nervous? Nothing bad would happen if they knew… He hoped.

"Senpai? Are you ok? You seem annoyed." The new pawn showed a worried face, directed at his new friend.

"Ah, nothing. Just thinking about my future familiar… By the way, I've never asked. How many pieces did you take?" He knew Buchou used 4 pieces… but he wanted to make sure.

"Four, like you. Why do you ask now?" Issei started to scratch his arm unconsciously, and thought of a simple answer.

"Uh… I don't know? It went through my mind and I just let it out."

"Like most things you do" Koneko! Is this your new hobby?

"I like teasing you." Well, I don't! And Shidou! Don't try to hold your laugh, I'm sure it's all your fault!

"I didn't think she liked the idea when I said it. She doesn't respond a lot when I talk." Even Asia let out a smile.

"How do you talk with her anyways? She only says the necessary or bad things to me." Does she really have that bad impression on him? He kind of deserved it but… I'm not perverted all the time! Well, 90% of the time. But that 10% is important!

"Well, she doesn't talk that much but she listens. When something bothers me or… I don't know, normally random things. Maybe is because she is the only one I know in the class. I don't really have friends besides you all. But I'm better than a week ago which is really good!"

After that, Kiba and Akeno arrived. They all started to talk about anything. Like a family you would say.

Unknown to anyone of the room, someone else was listening to the fancy talk. He hated everything that was in the room. But he couldn't appear at the moment. Too soon to make any damage. But he would come out, and then he will do what he loves most. Killing devils.

* * *

**I heard that people love cliffhangers! Even though it wasn't really a cliff. More like a hill.**

**By the way, English is not my first language, and mistakes will surely appear in my chapters. So if you point them out I'll be very happy!  
**

**Anyways, I decided to put some answers to the reviews I received. If people don't like it, tell me! **

**-_Alternativefuturefan27_: Sad to tell you that I haven't watched JoJo...yet. But Issei will get some cool "upgrades"...**

**_-blueprintLV_ : Yeah... i wonder why it took 4 pieces... MUAHAHAHA**

_**-Rintaro55: **_**Sorry that you didn't like it, but i think you haven't really understood the purpose of this story. The main purpose of this story is that Issei ISN'T the Sekiryutei, and he will have more problems fighting and conquering his Harem. If you thought that the story would be some kind of emo story, sorry to tell you that you are wrong :(  
**

_**-tomy98: **_**If you put a bit of imagination... in this chapter... you might figure out something.**

**-Shin XIX: People mistaken Issei's boosted gear with Twice Critical in the main series. In here his sacred gear is Twice Critical, but with some... changes.**

**Next chapter... The rating game approaches... but first we will have some kickass training week! So tell me, Who will win this battle? Gremory or Phenex? Tell me your thought about this episode!  
**

**Until next time!**


	3. Issei's Ballad

**Ohhh, long chapter ahead! Protect your children!**

* * *

The familiar's forest was a very shadowy place. Even though devils can see perfectly in the darkness, that didn't help when the place looked like it tried to kill you. Hollow growls, shadows following them and the sounds of leaves didn't leave the place alone. It didn't help that the famous familiar master was very creepy guy. He looked all happy in this horror story. It was only a matter of time before somebody in the group separated and then…

"Hey! What's that over there?" Shidou broke the trance in Issei's mind, making his little set up true.

"Don't do that! What if it's a freaking dragon! After all those other creatures, I'm sure that it isn't a pretty girl." Issei's dreams of having a girl familiar were crushed when he saw that they were… monsters! One couldn't dream anymore…

"The only dragon that could be a threat is Tiamat, and I'm sure that she wouldn't show up for us. Haven't I explained already?" The familiar master looked annoyed at Issei. However he was too busy fighting his own demons. Ah… the irony.

Issei was quite upset. Every creature that appeared looked at him with a deathly glare, and he didn't know why. That adding up to the fact that there were no cute girls as familiars, we could confirm that he wasn't too happy.

"Come on senpai, I'm sure there will be some familiar that you would like. Maybe there is a fairy or-" Shidou's voice was cut when the whole group stopped. The Familiar master was smelling something,

"I think there is a fire spirit somewhere…" He was whispering and the two pawns couldn't hear what he was saying.

There were a lot of types of spirits. It could be someone's soul, or someone's desire to achieve something. Those could achieve a physical reaction, but there was another kind of spirits. Habitually confused as fairies, they had nature's power at their will. The lack they had in defense and attack, was balanced with their tiny bodies. The main difference between a fairy and a spirit, was that the last one' had a red/pinkish eyes. And they had a hot temper.

"Uh… what?" Issei didn't hear the wise man, and was quickly shushed by the group. However, what was done could not be reverted.

A tiny wave of fire hit our favorite pawn in his nose. It hurt like hell. Size didn't matter in this case. A small girl started to fly around his head, leaving a yellow trail behind her. She stopped to look at him in the eye, and stick her tongue out.

"Look at that! It's a girl senpai!" Shidou's nervous smile was cut off when the girl looked at him. The little spirit, however approached him curiously. She had a white kimono, and pair of horns were sticking out of some black colored ribbons. She had light red hair, just like her eyes.

"Uh…" Shidou was nervous. He didn't want to disturb the little lady, but she kept looking at him. She took a slow spin around him, before stopping in his face.

"Looks like she likes you, Shidou-kun. Would you like her as your familiar?" Rias asked proudly to her pawn. Though he wasn't sure, when he saw an angry Issei summoning his sacred gear, he quickly decided.

"Uh… I, Itsuka Shidou, pawn of Rias Gremory, bind this creature, a fire spirit? To me, making me her new master!?" A rune appeared in her new familiar, before disappearing into her. He had completely improvised his chant, but it seemed it had work. He didn't want the little girl to be harm by his senpai. The spirit smiled to him and sat in his shoulder.

"Good job, Shidou-kun! Now you have a familiar!" Rias greeted him with a smile.

"Are you going to give her a name?" Asia asked, looking with amazement at the spirit.

"Uh… Ratatoskr? Fraxinus? I don't really know…" He could call his familiar like _her_. But he didn't want to be reminded of that every time he summoned her.

"Oh… don't worry about that… I'll make it disappear!"

_Boost!_

"Ise! You can't do that! She is already bounded to him." Rias words seemed to have stopped the ragging pawn, who stopped dead in his tracks.

"But… She hit me in the nose! I deserve a bit of revenge!" Issei's nose was bleeding a bit, but he knew this conversation wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Don't act like a child Ise, you know better." Issei sighed. He didn't want to be mad with Buchou. After all, he owned her his very own life.

"Yes Buchou…" He moved away from the new familiar and her owner. Shidou had an apologetic look, but the spirit looked very mad with his partner.

"Issei-san, I'll heal you if you want." Asia approached Issei, who brighten up a bit when he saw the girl.

"It's just a bit of blood… it doesn't hurt that much." He gave an honest reply, but he was still mad. He still had Twice Critical ready to go, just in case.

"Let's keep moving, if you don't mind." The familiar master followed the shady track.

After a few minutes of getting nowhere, Issei's anger had slowly disappeared. He couldn't get mad if he already had girls in his life! Who needed a familiar anyway?

"It seems that the creatures of the night aren't very active tonight. We can keep going if you want, but I don't think it will get us anywhere." The creepy master explained. They had been walking a few hours, and besides some creatures that tried to attack Issei, they didn't find anything.

"It looks that way. We'll come back the next full moon then." Rias sadly announced. Why was she like that? She says it like she'll never see another full moon. Even though Issei wasn't exactly bright, he could see the emotions of another person… most of the times.

"Wait a second… something is coming this way…" How the familiar master knew that was a mystery. Issei, with previous experience of his other… actions with the creatures of the forest, readied his sacred gear. It morphed again, and the jewel appeared in his palm, leaving his hand covered with red metal skin.

A small dragon appeared in front of him, shooting lighting as he got closer. Issei, shoot small waves of yellow energy to deflect the lightning. He was taking this trip more like a target practice than a familiar search.

The dragon seeing that it was doing nothing, charged at our pawn. He would have been hit if it wasn't for something. He changed his sacred gear to his original form.

_Boost!_

Time seemed to slowdown, and he calmly grabbed the dragon. His boosted strength was enough to hold it without trouble.

"What were you trying to do, my friend?" Issei jokingly said to the dragon. He looked over at Asia, who seemed impressed at the performance of his savior.

"Asia, do you want it as your familiar? He seems strong enough to protect you" He knew that he couldn't protect Asia every day, every time. And who could give more protection than a dragon?

"A Sprite Dragon is a one of a kind. They need to be tamed before they reach adulthood. I would take the opportunity perverted boy is giving you." The familiar master shortly explained.

"Y-Yes!" Asia gave a direct answer and approached the Issei and the dragon. He let go of the dragon and jumped back just in case. At least the others had found a familiar. And both of them hated him for some odd reason. Maybe they didn't like perverts, or that's what he thought.

Rias, however, found this situation strange. Issei wasn't evil, he wasn't sick, and he hadn't killed any of the creatures except for that slime that jumped on him, but that was just moments ago. Did the creatures know something they didn't sense?

* * *

After all the shenanigans of the familiar forest, Asia and Issei were going back to their house. Issei was happy walking with a girl, and he was even happier when he saw that his left arm looked fine. No red veins, no itching, and no pain. It seemed that shooting out magic healed his odd condition.

"Issei-san…umm… thanks for catching Rassei. I'm sure he is very sorry of his actions…" Issei melted inside when he heard those words.

"Ah… well you know what they say, gotta catch them all!" Issei laughed nervously at his own joke, but she didn't understand it.

"Don't worry... an inside joke… " Asia, however looked a bit sad.

"Issei-san, why did you give him to me?

"He tried to hit me, and it was our last chance. I don't really want a familiar without bo… without sense of common! It would be very awkward if he tried to kill me every time I summoned him!" He gave an honest answer, kinda. But the former nun expected something else.

"Oh… Thank you, Issei -san!" She gave him a short hug, which Issei enjoyed tremendously. He... He felt her boobs! Best. Day. Ever.

* * *

Shidou didn't felt that happy. He wanted to go to the church, but fear crawled behind his back. Though his desire was stronger than the fear, he felt very wary of entering. The insides looked fine. Like the battle that happened days ago didn't happen. Was this the work of his master?

Feeling uneasy, he summoned her new acquired familiar. He hadn't decided a name, but he wanted to be a bit with her. To bond better.

A symbol appeared in the ground, and the spirit, who was as tall as his hand, appeared from it. He didn't know what she could do, the familiar master only gave a short explanation.

"Do you understand me?" She nodded.

"So… can you talk?" The little girl shook her head.

"So you have fire powers… What can you do with them?" She was surrounded by fire, and after a few moments, she launched it directly to a bench which turned into ashes.

"That's… amazing." She stuck her chest out, showing off pride.

"So you can shoot fire and fly. Anything else?" She summoned a weird halberd, and threw the IT at another bench, making it burn. Shidou was going to put out the flames before being stopped by the spirit. She closed her eyes and turned into ashes, and reappeared in the bench's flames, making them disappear.

"You can… appear in flames. Looks useful…" He looked thoughtful for a moment, and an idea showed up.

"Can you make burn another bench? I want to try something." She did as he said. Meanwhile he summoned his sword, which only took three times to summon it.

"Here goes nothing!" He swung the sword over the flames, which were sucked into it. Then to complete the idea, he balanced Sandalphon, which had a red aura, and made an upwards cut. A wave of fire appeared, but they vanished after ten meters.

"Ha! Screw you MMO players, I have a real flame sword!"

It had been a good day. He obtained a cool familiar, discovered a few new things and now he could visit _her._

* * *

The owner of Twice Critical was sleeping. He was dreaming about a powerful being, red armor covering his body. There was another man, whose body had white armor, with colorful blue wings. He was watching the scene in the distance, gazing every movement they made. It was clear these two… beings were not friends. They started to fight each other. One kept boosting his power, while the other was dividing it. After a long fight, the man in red armor was defeated. Even though the other man had won, he was in no condition to fight. Issei sneaked behind him, and with a powerful blow he killed the remaining man. It was that moment when he realized that it was not him, but another man with his sacred gear. After that, the other owner of Twice Critical fell to the ground, leaving no life in the battlefield.

Issei woke up when something it his face. It was his left arm.

"What the…" It was then when he realized something was wrong. He hadn't moved his arm in purpose.

"I'm still dreaming…" He said with a yawn.

_Boost!_

He jumped from the bed and hit the ground. Confused, he tried to move, but his body didn't respond.

"I do not like this dream…" A red symbol started to appear in the ground in front of him. He jumped on it, and the symbol vanished.

"What's this? BattleToads?" The symbol appeared again, this time behind him. With a back flip, he step in it, and yet again, it was no more.

"I didn't know I could do that"

That situation kept going for a few more minutes, but when it stopped, Issei got in the bed again.

"This is strange dream's festival…" With that, he slept like a puppy.

* * *

Itsuka Shidou was in his way to school. He was in a good mood, leftovers from the events of yesterday. He was lazily walking when he spotted someone familiar. (Ha!)

"Issei-senpai! Asia-san! Good morning!"

"Good morning, Shidou-kun." Asia greeted him. Issei just waved at him

"Are you still mad about yesterday?" He shyly asked his senpai.

"Uh? Maybe. Can that spirit transform into a human girl?"

"I don't know… I haven't asked her." It wasn't something that was in his priority list.

"…Well, if you find out tell me… By the way, does she obey you?" Issei tried to hide his perverted face, but it didn't work.

"What are you thinking? I'm not letting you do whatever you're thinking" Issei quickly put a serious face.

"I was wondering if you had a brother"

"Why are you asking that now?!" His skill at changing subjects was too low.

"Well, when I was little I played with this boy, and he had the same surname as you." How he had saved that, was still an enigma. Though Shidou believed him, he was still wary of his actions.

"N-No…" He responded distracted. He looked over to Asia, who had a confused face as well. Issei seemed to not have noticed his bluntness, and kept walking like there was no tomorrow.

"I almost forgot! Shidou-kun…!" Issei put his arm around his neck, like they were best buddies.

"If you try to… get more powers using the peerage… Oh, we are going to have a nice chat!" Issei whispered to Shidou, who had a terrified look in his face. How could he put such a scary voice?!

"Don't look at me like that! You can have Kiba if you want!" He raised his voice to a normal tone. Shidou relaxed a bit.

"You said that like you could actually hit me…" He slyly smiled. Issei gave him a confidence smile.

"Ah, yeah? I can mop the ground with you! Nobody can beat the Harem King!" Where Issei had found this confidence was unknown. Well, Asia was there. That might be it.

"After school, in the forest. Pawn vs Pawn."

* * *

Issei had faith that the boost he had could overwhelm his fellow pawn. But he thought the same against Raynare. He couldn't rely on brute strength and win. He could use this fight to find more secrets about his sacred gear, but he didn't want to lose.

He started to design a plan.

He had wings, which could help him jump higher, as he didn't know how to flight. His sacred gear, at the moment, had two modes. Boost Mode, where his strength could double, and the Shoot Mode, where he could shoot small waves of energy which could undress… that didn't help in this fight. He wondered if he could boost those waves. Shidou had advantage at close range with Sandalphon, but if he could take him down before that he could win. The problem was if he got close. His sacred gear didn't have a close range mode… did it? If that happens, the Boost Mode could give him enough reflex to dodge the attacks, and give enough time to jump back. He had a longer reach, if he could only deflect his sword… Maybe he could with the jewel of Twice Critical, it didn't shatter easily. And then a nice K.O. punch.

It had taken all school to prepare all of that. The plan couldn't have any flaws. He could win. No, he WILL win. The trees give him enough places to sneak around, and made the close range combat difficult for someone armed. He was at advantage.

It was a bit sad that it had taken him that much time to plan the strategy, but he could get better. After all, it was his first time.

"This is it, Issei, the final battle."

"The duel that everyone has been waiting for!"

"I'm not going to hold back!"

"Remember, the first who falls to the ground loses."

Issei had asked Asia to go to the clubroom. His plans didn't involve her, and they could fight without any restrains. Obviously it was not a death battle. Even if they got injured, Asia would heal them.

The terrain had fewer trees that Issei had hoped for, but the plan didn't change.

3…

He wasn't weak.

2…

He had the perfect plan.

1…

"Here goes nothing! **Twice Critical, Shoot Mode!**" The iconic red gauntlet appeared in his hand, jewel incorporated in his palm.

"Sandalphon!" Shidou stomped the ground, but no sword appeared.

"Hm… Critical cannon!" The jewel in his hand shined brightly for a few seconds, and a bright yellow wave appeared, more powerful than the ones at the familiar forest.

The wave was cut in half when the sword, Sandalphon, appeared from the ground. Shidou quickly grabbed it, and charged at Issei. He, however, smiled.

A pair of wings appeared in Issei's back, and after testing them a bit, he jumped. Shidou was not expecting this, and looked amazed at Issei's acrobatics. Our favorite pawn, in middle of the air, released another wave of yellow energy. Shidou clumsily blocked the attack with the sword.

Issei showed a true smile. Shidou didn't know how to fight. Neither did he, but he had a plan supporting him.

He flapped his wings again, to lesser the fall damage. He landed next to a denser area of the forest, quickly hiding in it. Guerrilla tactics.

Shidou followed him. This time he was serious. He looked around the trees, trying to register any movement.

Issei, meanwhile, was hiding behind a tree and then shot another wave. He quickly moved to another position. Then, he shot another one and kept moving, doing the same strategy.

Shidou blocked one, two with Sandalphon, but the third one hit his back, leaving it exposed.

"Very interesting, Issei-senpai. But you forgot one thing." Sandalphon had a yellow aura surrounding it. He held it towards the sky, and made a full spinning attack. A yellow wave destroyed the surrounding trees, falling to the ground.

"That thing absorbs magic?!" Issei had jumped and avoided the barrage. He couldn't keep going with plan A. If he keeps shooting, the sword gets stronger. His guerrilla tactics didn't work without trees. It was time for plan B.

_Boost!_

Twice Critical returned to his normal state. And with that, Issei charged at Shidou. The augmented strength, also affected his speed and reaction time. With that, he could see Shidou moving more slowly, but he still was fast. He avoided the sword, but when he tried to get closer, he swung it towards him again.

The boost, however, vanished after dodging a few swings. The only thing he could do was blocking it with his jewel.

Doubt started to enter Issei. What if the jewel broke? He wouldn't be able to fight him… and then… then…

"_Desire, sacred gears are guided by desire. If the desire is strong, the user will also become strong" _

"I plead to you! Twice Critical! If I lost this duel, he will have my well deserved Harem! I can't let that happen! He will touch and suck what he doesn't deserve!"

"What the hell is he saying… I'm not planning that…"

Twice Critical glowed again. It completely surrounded his arm until the elbow, and it expanded towards his hand. However, unlike in his Shoot Mode, the metal transformed into claws, much longer than Issei's hand.

"You will feel the pain of Freddy Krueger!"

Shidou swung his sword vertically, but was stopped with Issei's new gauntlet. Both were panting heavily, but Shidou was starting to win the struggle between the two of them. After all, Issei's left hand wasn't the strongest and he had both of his hands. But he couldn't lose.

_Boost!_

With the new acquire power, he quickly parried his sword, and he couldn't do anything to stop the upcoming fist. Or so he thought. He saw something red in the corner of his eye.

A wave of fire hit Issei in the chest, making him fall to the ground.

"What was…" He saw the infamous spirit helping Shidou, who had fallen to his knees.

The familiar.

The one thing he hadn't counted in his plan.

His plan was flawless. Was.

He had lost.

"Uh… Who told you to show up? I should have lost there…!" Shidou was also not happy with the results, even if he had technically won. The spirit, didn't show any pity for her actions.

"Senpai? Are you ok? This doesn't count, you should have wo-" Issei however, stood up without showing any emotions.

"No, it's fine. It's my fault." He had been stupid. He forgot the familiar, who hated him. His plan didn't have any flaw. If only he could have been faster. He even had gotten an upgrade to his Boost Mode, some claws and more protection for the arm. Even with that, it wasn't enough.

"Let's go before Buchou gets worried." Issei simply stated. He was mad at himself. He could have won if he had thought in his strategy more deeply. If he was pushed just a little more he would have exploded in an uncontrollable rage.

* * *

Both pawns went back to the club, to find themselves in a strange situation. A beautiful silver haired woman wearing a maid's outfit was there. There was a man with short blond hair and dark blue eyes. He was sitting next to Buchou, trying to touch her.

"Buchou? What is- Who the fuck are you?!" Issei seeing the rudeness of the man, quickly tensed up. He wasn't in a good mood.

"Oh? Rias, you haven't mentioned me to your servants? I mean, are there guys who don't know me? You may be a reincarnated devil, but even so."

"I didn't tell them because there was no need." Rias interjected harshly.

"Oh my, harsh like always. Hahaha…"

"How do you do. I'm a maid that serves the House of Gremory. My name is Grayfia. Please allow me to explain." Said the silver haired woman.

"This person is Raiser Phenex-sama. He's a pure-blood High-class Devil, and the third son of the House of Phenex." Shidou thought of mythical being, but seeing its greatness in that man was hard.

"And he is the husband of the next heiress of the House of Gremory. Meaning he is engaged to Rias-ojousama." Utter silence greeted Grayfia's statement.

While the peerage was trying to come to terms with the shocking news, Issei decided to break the silence.

"A-Are you telling me this… person, is going to marry MY Buchou?!"

"Ah? Who are you?" His tone of voice had completely changed. Going from the sweet tone he used at Rias, to a completely condescending tone of voice.

"I am the servant Devil of Rias Gremory-sama! I'm his pawn Hyoudou Issei!"

"Oh, Good for you…"

The atmosphere at the club room after Issei's outburst was oppressive. The entire peerage stood some distance away from the two High-class Devils, while quietly trying to process the information given by Grayfia.

Only Raiser himself seemed unfazed by the tension in the room. Comfortably drinking a cup of tea while casually holding Rias shoulder, despite continues efforts by her part for him to stop touching her.

Issei focused entirely at Raiser and Rias, gauging the situation.

Raiser actions spoke of a possessiveness and lack of respect that unnerved him. His constant touching of Rias, as if to establish his claim to an object, clearly reminded him of a carnivore playing with his prey.

By his side Shidou was sharing the same expression as Issei, looking dead in the eye at Raiser.

"Stop it already!"Rias snapped angrily while rising from her seat, giving Raiser a fierce glare. But he merely continued to smirk, completely unconcerned by her apparent wrath.

"Raiser! I told you before! I will not marry you! "

"Yeah, I heard that before. But Rias, that won't do, you know? After all the situation of your household is quite serious."

"That's none of your concern! If I'm the next heiress for the House of Gremory, then I will choose who will become my husband! My father, brother, and everyone in the clan are rushing it! Also it was a promise that I will be free until I graduate from university of the human world!"

"That's right. You will basically be free. You can go to college and you can do whatever you like with your servants. But your Otou-sama and Sirzechs-sama are worried. They are afraid that your household will become extinct. We lost a great number of pure-blood Devils in the last war. Even if the war has ended, our rivalry with the Fallen Angels and God hasn't. It's not rare for the successors of pure-blood Devils to get killed in the worthless battle against them, leading to the extinction of their bloodlines. So for pure-blood Devils that also happens to be High-class Devils, getting together would be the obvious solution. Even you know the importance of maintaining the bloodlines, right?"

Their discussion was in his opinion a clash between Rias wish for freedom and the politics and outdated traditions of Devil society. It appeared that their society had a great respect for the ancient bloodlines, the clans of the original devils, and thus, sought to keep them _'pure' _trough arranged marriages. Regardless of the wishes of the parts involved.

Despite the fierce will gleaming in her eyes, Raiser words seemed to have silenced Rias. Sensing a possible weakness he continued his speech.

"The newly produced reincarnated Devils are expanding in terms of strength. Making us, the High-class Devils lose our place. And even if the newly produced Devils are also important for our future, we can't allow the pure-blood Devils to go extinct right? You and I were chosen in order to prevent the pure-bloods from going extinct. My house is safe because I have my older brothers. But there are only two siblings in your house. And your brother is someone who left the house. Then there would only be you, Rias, who can inherit the House of Gremory. If you don't take a husband, the House of Gremory will go extinct in your generation. Are you trying to crush one of the few surviving pillars that support our society?"

The 72 pillars, Shidou remembered Akeno explaining that to him and Asia. They were the clans of the original devils of ancient times who ruled the underworld. Each clan once had great power and vast armies, but when the war with the other factions finally ended, over half of the clans had already gone extinct.

"I'm not going to crush my house. And I am willing to take a husband."

Hearing Rias words Raiser smiled broadly. "Oh, to be expected from Rias! Then let's…"

"But I won't marry you, Raiser. I will marry the one I acknowledge. Even the Devils from the old noble houses have the right to choose."

With that clear, firm refusal, Raiser entire posture tensed for the first time since arriving at the club room. His eyes became sharp and predatory.

"…You know, Rias. I'm also a Devil who carries the name of House Phenex behind me. I can't let that name get tarnished. I didn't even want to come to a small old building like this in the human world. Rather, I don't like the human world that much. The fire and wind of this world is filthy. For a Devil like me who rules fire and wind, I can't stand it!"

And with those words the area around him exploded in a sea of flames.

"I will take you back to the underworld, even if I have to burn this pathetic place and all of your servants to do it!"

Upon hearing those words Issei activated his sacred gear, ready to act if necessary, while noticing that Koneko, Kiba had done the same.

He could fell a strange coldness in his bones. He didn't have a plan, and that scared him a lot. He could fell Raiser's hostility and killing intent filling the room. He could feel death waiting, just one wrong blow away.

Rias unleashed her own demonic-power in response to the threat. Her crimson aura battling Raiser flames in an intense show of power, lifting the feeling of doom that was permeating the air.

In that moment, in complete contrast to the situation, Grayfia calmly stepped forward, her face still holding a completely impassive look. "Ojou-sama, Raiser-sama, please calm down. If you were to continue, then I will be forced to act. For Sirzechs-sama's honor, I won't hold back."

Upon hearing those words both Raiser and Rias immediately backed off, clearly intimidated by her words.

"Sirzechs-sama, and those from the House of Phoenix knew it would turn out like this. To tell you the truth this was to be the last discussion meeting, even thought everyone knew that it wouldn't be solved, so they decided to make a last resort."

Rias looked at Grayfia, waiting for her to continue.

"Ojou-sama, if you wish to push your opinion forward, then how about you settle it by having a Rating Game against Raiser-sama?"

Rias was left speechless upon hearing Grayfia words. She clearly wasn't expecting this proposition.

Shidou thought about Rias explanation of the subject. The Rating Game is a battle amongst Devils where their peerages compete for supremacy, and your strength in the game reflects greatly in your social standing amongst other Devils.

"Just as you know, Ojou-sama, only mature aged Devils can participate in the official Rating Game. But if it's an unofficial match between pure-blood Devils, even immature Devils can participate."

"In other words Otou-sama and the others decided to have a game as a last resort if I was to decline, right? …Just how far are they intending to interfere with my life before they fell satisfied!" She asked incensed.

"Then Ojou-sama, are you saying that you would also decline to participate in the game?"

"No, I won't, since this is a chance. Alright then, let's settle this with a game, Raiser."

Raiser smirked after Rias provocative words.

"Hee, so you're accepting it. I don't mind. But I'm already a matured Devil and I have already participated in the official game. Right now I have won most of my games. Even so, you still want to play, Rias?"

Rias glare was the only answer he received.

"Understood, I, Grayfia, have confirmed both sides opinion. I will be in charge of the game between the two of you and will inform the two households of your decision."

Raiser looked extremely happy with the decision, as if he had already won the match.

"Hey, Rias. Are these the members of your peerage?" He asked in a smug tone of voice.

"So what?" She replied angrily.

"Then this match will be a laugh! Only your Queen, the "Priestess of Thunder" can fight on par with my adorable servants."

And with a snap of his fingers a magical circle appeared, bringing forth his peerage.

Issei tensed even more upon the sight. Fifteen members, Raiser has the maximum possible number of servants in his peerage. And they look quite confident as well, the way they hold themselves speaking of battle experience.

This will be a difficult battle, he thought, especially since Shidou, Asia and I don't have battle experience as Devils.

Issei was done. The man had a fucking harem. Why would he need Rias?! He was treating her like she was a prize, something he could throw away while he could.

"You already have a harem! It's clear that you don't need Buchou, why are you doing this then?! **Twice Critical! Boost Mode**!" Issei noticed that one member of that peerage had shifted her position. She was going to attack.

Shidou was looking at the har- peerage of Raiser. It was clear they were beautiful and powerful. Some of them looked that they were chosen just because they satisfied a fetish. For example, those girls with cat ears, or the loli twins. It was clear those weren't exactly powerful.

However, there was someone who caught his eye. She was isolated from the rest of the group, she had long blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Her hair was tied in twin ponytails with large, drill-like curls, and blue ribbons keeping them in place. She was definitely different from the others.

She noticed him looking at her, and they glared at each other. After some seconds, Shidou tried to communicate with her by gestures, and she seemed confused at his failed attempt. But was cut off when a voice broke the silence.

"Twice Critical? Don't make me laugh… Mira. Do it." Raiser said while looking at Issei with contempt.

_Boost!_

"Yes, Raiser-sama." The girl, no much taller than Koneko, took out her bo staff and attacked Issei.

She tried to hit Issei in the guts, but as he was already watching her movements, he had enough reaction time to dodge it completely. However, the girl also had time to watch Issei, and she managed to hit him, taking a price. A big scratch appeared in her cheek, a gift directly from Issei's new acquired claws.

Though Issei fell to the ground, he made a slight impression on Raiser and her peerage.

"Uh? Although you managed to hit her with such a weak sacred gear, that should be the limit of Twice Critical. Also, she is still my weakest pawn." Issei clenched his teeth. He was mocking him…

A laughing Raiser approached Shidou, who was distracted with the blond girl.

"Oh? And this is your other pawn? He looks as weak as the other one." Raiser noticed the direction of his glance, and a devilish smile appeared in his ugly face.

"Ah, I see that you have seen my little sister over there. Not really my type… but you need a little sister in a… peerage"

He then proceeded to look at the rest of our peerage with dismissing looks.

"Rias, how about we have a match in 10 days? We could do it now, but that wouldn't be interesting."

"…Are you giving me a handicap." She asked, angered by his actions against Issei.

"Are you against it? Is it humiliating? You know that as it stands now you couldn't possibly win." He looked at Rias with serious eyes.

"If you can't use your servant's power to the fullest, then you will lose immediately. So it's not weird for you to train with your servants for your first [Rating Game]."

He sends her a smug grin. "After-all I wouldn't want my beloved to shame herself at her very first game."

And with that Raiser disappeared into the circle with his peerage, leaving only silence in his wake.

* * *

Rias decided the peerage would spend the ten days before the match training in one of her clan properties in the mountains. She wanted us to become stronger, in both our individual powers and teamwork.

Later that night, Issei had already decided what he would do in those days.

Magic training with Akeno. He needed a good hissatsu move to balance the gap in power, and it would be good to have a long range battle. He also wanted to improve his wave of unclothing for… technical support.

Basic self defense with Koneko, he couldn't be in great distances all the battle, and it was unavoidable.

Weakness of the weapons with Kiba. If he managed to find breaking points in swords, he could gain advantage at close range combat

Lots of physical exercises, to make sure his boost is only needed in extreme situations.

And last but not least… He would peek every time he could! No one was safe from his wave of unclothing! His Dress Break! It would suck if he had to approach a girl… but he didn't need to with that technique! He could get away without being a suspect! And his left arm was itching again… Damn it.

That reminded him of his duel with Shidou. He couldn't make the same mistake twice… Why did he feel like he had though more this single day than most of his life?! It made him hungry…

* * *

"And that's why I have to fight again." Shidou was currently talking to a gravestone. It was located at the basement of the church. Even though the building gave him a strange fear, he felt calm when he was close to _her_.

"I'll make sure that Sandalphon gets one for you. After all, it was yours…" A tear fell to the ground. Shidou kept blaming himself for _her _death. If it wasn't for his sacred gear…

"Do you think Issei-senpai is angry?"

…

"You sure? He acts very strange when I'm around…"

…

"I just told them that I needed to lick-"

…

" Well, he got kinda upset when I told him I had sex with you…"

His familiar was watching the scene closely. He was talking to himself. Like yesterday. She wanted the well-being of his master, but the only one he was around normally was the nekomata and that perverted guy. She didn't know how to speak, but she knew how to write. She was sure that the cat girl would help him… or so she hoped. She didn't know that much about social interactions. She didn't like those girls with big breast. How could they even walk without heir back hurting?!

* * *

**Uf, so that wraps up all the chapters i had done before publishing the first chapter.  
**

**This was supposed to be 2 chapters... but i didn't want to leave a big cliffhanger in the middle. I have my heart, you know.**

**By the way, that Raiser scene? Totally unoriginal. Yeah, i know... I feel bad about it too.**

**Ah, yeah. You might say. This is stupid! Issei would have beaten Shidou, blah blah bkasldljsad. Issei had the enviroment in his favour. As well as more mastery over Twice Critical and a plan. I was just being realistic in this fight. But remember, this is pre-training, so things may change... Ah who am i fooling? Things will change. Not sure if change to good or to bad.**

**Also, my battle writting skills are... horrible. I think. So please tell me what i can improve.**

**Issei is acting more smartly, as some of you pointed out. Even then, he still needs to reach a certain level. Because even if he traces a plan, like he did in this chapter, he won't be able to do much if he can't see his enemy. By the way, things are going to get a bit more... dark. Not super dark, but... you know what i'm saying.**

**Shidou... well he has a familiar... and he is kind of... crazy. Even though Shidou isn't the main protagonist, he will have some background, as well as the other members of the peerage. That's why the plan Issei has for the training, involves pretty much every member. Except Asia... but she will show up too. Issei barely knows them, and even though he didn't even care being forcefully transformed into a demon, he'll show more emotion than in the series.**

**As nobody really complained about the reviews, I'll keep posting them here.**

_**-blueprintLV:**_** Yup, sometimes i forget to quote who is talking, but in my head it all makes sense! Hopefully this chapter was more enjoyable in that matter. And sleep!**

_**-**_**_Guest:_ That little reference won't be really important. But thanks.**

**-_tomy98:_ I'm just evil like that... I want to point out that this isn't exactly a crossover, so don't expect every character to show up. Maybe some references. And, yeah, if you insist, she MIGHT show up. I don't know in what state. MUAHAHAH**

**_-Guardian54:_ It would be cheating, don't you think? Well, they have phoenix tears but... ah fuck it. Thanks for share your thoughts! Let's see if you are right...**

**So next chapter, the training commences. I'm quite sure there will be 2 chapters of training, and then the battle, but don't quote me on that.  
**

**So, do you like what have i done with Issei? He has some forms of Twice Critical, and at this moment, Cannon Issei (Before Training) could have some trouble with him. Share your thoughts!**

**And thanks for reading until here! Love you all!**


	4. I'm Having such a good time

**"Normal" Chapter Ahead! Happy chapters will be very rare... so enjoy it.**

* * *

Buchou didn't appreciate that her two pawns had started a fight near school. She had fixed all the damage they did to forest, but Issei had found strange that she hadn't punished them. Now he knew why.

The number of bags he was carrying was bordering the ridiculous.

"Hurry, Ise. Stop dawdling." Rias said in fake sternness from atop the stairs.

"…I will help as well." Asia interjected, ready to help him since she wasn't carrying anything.

"It's okay, since Ise won't be able to get stronger if he can't do this much. Isn't that right Ise-kun?" Taking a look at the face of the nearly dead looking Issei, she smiled a bit. Even though he complained a bit, he quickly became serious. He really wanted to get stronger.

Shidou in the other hand didn't complain. She didn't know that much about him, and he avoided any questions. It was obvious he was hiding something. What was he hiding behind that church? There wasn't anybody buried there. Maybe it had a sentimental value? She didn't tell him what happens when demons get near a church, but he hasn't complained about that.

There was another reason that bugged her. What exactly was his sacred gear? She hadn't found any information about it. The information she had was the little he had tell her. However, she had found information about Sandalphon. At first, she thought that the sword was an extension of that sacred gear, but the blade was _another_ sacred gear. A human could have various sacred gears, but those cases were rare, especially two so powerful. Apparently, the sword absorbed the surrounding magic, even when it's only exposed in the air. That meant one thing. They could beat Raiser in another way. That was the reason of her happiness.

"Buchou, I gathered some herbs. Let's use it for the meal tonight."Kiba said while climbing the stairs with a cool expression, completely un-winded.

Issei looked at his right to see Koneko advancing faster than him, and carrying much more luggage. The laws of physics didn't work on this girl or what? This is hurting his pride!

He could always use a boost… but what was the point of training if he cheated his way in? His goal was to at least withstand a punch from Koneko. Mainly it was because he was tired of getting hit by her and because Koneko is very strong. If he could do that, those weak pawns won't stand a chance! But he remembered that he couldn't live only with strength.

"S-Senpai… wait!" Issei had started to go a bit faster, and his fellow pawn couldn't match his enthusiasm. Shidou was a bit sad that his friend hadn't said a word to him since he 'won', but it probably was the aftermath, right?

* * *

A great wooden mansion was the place where they would live and train the next few days. It was in the middle of a mountain, and surrounded by forests. Maybe it even had a thermal bath! Oh, the things he could do… No! Training! focus… on… boo- training! I need to concentrate on important things… But my perverted side is too strong! Cooperate with me!

He had chosen a small bedroom, with a window to the outside. He also planned to train at night, so he didn't want to disturb the others. His muscles were sore after bringing all those bags, but Buchou had said that they would start to train right away. He proceeded to remember his plan. First off, he wanted to do some magical training. He only knew how to do magic with his sacred gear, but he was positive he could do it without it. Akeno was going to train him! That added 2000 point to succeed! Unfortunately, it wasn't a private session, as Asia and Shidou needed also some training.

The good thing is that Asia was only going to train her magical abilities, and Shidou was going to expend his time with Kiba, to learn some basic sword fighting tactics. He, however, needed to train in magic and physical skills, and maybe one or two talks with Kiba. He would fight with him, but he didn't need any tutorials unlike in the other activities.

As the night had already fallen, he decided to do some push-ups. He didn't want to overdo it, but he still had a bit of strength left. Plus, it would help him sleep later. Maybe he should get some water before going to sleep.

* * *

They would start training tomorrow. They had a lovely dinner, like a family. He liked the way Buchou managed her peerage. She didn't treat them like slaves, but Shidou was wary of her. He was grateful for her, she had given him the church and treated him well. But he didn't understand why she would do this. Was it because he got involucrate in that fight? Would she have killed him if he didn't have any power? She seemed nice with him, and from what Koneko told him, she had a kind heart. She wasn't perfect, but she was good in terms of a demon.

However, after dinner she told him to meet up for a chat. She was onto something. He didn't trust them enough to tell his… history.

"Shidou-kun, I guess you know why I called you, right?" They were outside the mansion, both wearing the school uniform. The moon and a candle was the only light between them. Not that it really mattered.

"Yes." He plainly answered. He didn't appreciate that she wanted to know about him.

"So, are you going to tell me? I'm not going to tell the others, if that's your problem." Although he saw that she was telling the truth, Shidou was still cautious.

"…I guess I can tell you a bit… Ask away, I don't know where to start." He sighed, and prepared for the invasion of question.

"Before we…meet you, what were you doing?" Rias was concerned about the boy. If it was like the others, he would a sad history behind him.

"Living, I guess. Happy to live without knowing all this supernatural paraphernalia." He looked at the forest, trying to find something to entertain himself.

"… When did you find out you had a sacred gear?" Shidou's face darkened.

"Sheer luck." His voice had also changed a bit, it was sadder.

"This girl you mentioned… she helped you?"

"What about her? She isn't involved in this." Shidou's voice acquired a hostile tone.

"Fine. If you don't want to answer it's fine… Let's change a bit…What is so important in that church to make you became a demon?" Rias wanted answers, but she didn't want to push the boy too much.

"Someone I love is buried there…" Her information said otherwise, nobody was buried there.

"Are you sure about that? No one has been buried th-"

"Bullshit, I did it myself…" His glare wandered off in the mansion, and started to walk away. Rias didn't stop him.

"Could we repeat this tomorrow? You need to open up to the others too… They are also your family." It was more a suggestion than a demand.

"I'll think about it…"

Rias stayed there a bit more. She already confirmed that he had something sad in his record. Probably the girl she loved died, and was buried in that church. There was something else… But she couldn't put her finger on it. He still didn't trust her, but she needed his power to win.

* * *

After a grueling physical training in the morning under the supervision of Rias, the new members of the peerage proceeded to learn how to wield their demonic-power under the tutelage of Akeno. Issei had learned that magic and demonic power wasn't the same.

"You gather the demonic-power by drifting the aura that covers your whole body. You have to concentrate and feel the wave of demonic-power." She said in a stern voice, while nodding at our progress.

"Ara ara. So Asia-chan has talent in using demonic-powers after all."

And indeed, Asia was showing great talent in the area, having managed to materialize an impressive volleyball sized sphere of demonic-power. Shidou himself was proud of his own tennis ball sized sphere, even if it was nowhere near Asia's size.

Issei was struggling to even make a rice grain size sphere. He was about to give up when his left arm started itching again, and his sphere grew to a ping-pong size sphere. He almost thought he had little to no demonic power, and that would have been terrible. He sighed relieved. Akeno's nod at his own sphere was enough to say he was doing alright.

"Very well, now let's change that demonic-power into fire, water and lightning. You can make this by imagining it, however, it will be easier for beginners to actually move an already existing element using their demonic-power rather than creating it from scratch."

She exemplifies it by sending her demonic-power into a water bottle, making it explode into countless shards of ice.

"I want you to copy what I just did and practice at those water bottles. The source of demonic-power is imagination. So it's important to materialize it clearly in your mind."

While the others proceeded with the training, Issei looked quite lost at how to achieve what had just been asked. He tried to imagine the ice, but it was like the plastic was bouncing his magic back. An idea appeared in Issei's mind. Like ripping clothes…

The plastic of the water was cut off in two pieces, right in the middle. Akeno approached him, curious of his latest achievement.

"Ara ara, Ise-kun, what were you thinking to do this?" She asked in a seductive voice.

Shidou was also looking at him, as he had already frozen his water bottle. Though he didn't blow it up, it was enough for him.

With those words, Issei's face lights up in realization. Getting close to Akeno he starts to ask something in a whispered tone.

Akeno's face goes blank for a moment before she smiles at him and whatever he just said. "Ufufu that sure is something you would come up with Ise-kun. I'll go get him right away."

Staring at his senpai in confusion, he looked back to see the ice melted. When did that happen?

He froze it again, but as soon as the ice showed up, it also disappeared.

"What the…?" He looked at Asia, who was having the same problem as him.

"Senpai, are you turned on right now?" Issei looked shocked at his statement. But he quickly got a serious face. However, Shidou saw something in the corner of his eye.

"Ah, don't answer. You are always like that." He looked at the other side of the table, and saw his little familiar trying to hold her laugh back.

"How are you entering here?!" He grabbed the spirit by her kimono. He was pretty sure she couldn't appear in this world without his permission. She didn't stop laughing.

"…Have you checked what I said?" Issei's voice was barely a whisper, but Shidou heard it nice and clear.

"Ah, that… No. You can ask her now, if you wish." The spirit stopped laughing when she saw Issei. But this time, instead of trying to attack him, she hid behind her master.

"Oh? She is scared… Did you give her a name?" Asia patted in the head the little spirit, who didn't appreciate it. The bishop noticed this and stopped doing it.

"Don't worry about that, she is just stubborn. I'm sure she'll like you." He tried to console Asia, who was a bit sad at the familiar's reaction. "But yes, I think I'll call her Efreet. Do you like it, little one?" The spirit eagerly nodded, making the temperature in the room raise up.

"Now, don't do anymore jokes or I'll have to punish you." He said, grabbing her again by her kimono. She lazily nodded, and her body disappeared into ashes.

Some minutes later, Akeno returned with Kiba at his side.

"So, Issei-san, what are you planning?" Kiba asked, who had to stop his training.

"He is trying a new…technique, and he asked for a sword." Akeno briefly explained. Kiba, almost instantly recreated a Demonic sword, and handed over to Issei.

"Whoa… That's right, you can make any weapon, right?" Issei curiously asked the Knight, who smiled with pride.

"Yes, just tell me if you want more swords, or a sword of different shape." Kiba then proceeded to leave, but was stopped by Issei.

"If you don't mind… could you do another 4 swords? Just like this one, if you can." Kiba recreated almost exactly the same sword four times, and handed over all of them to Issei.

"Now then, Ise-kun. For that little trick you want to do, you'll need to touch the object. But before we start, let me give some work to Asia-chan and Shidou-kun."

* * *

The training was proceeding better than expected. All her new members were able to acclimatize to the rigid physical training she had put forward and where grasping the basics of using demonic-power already.

For the evening Rias was planning to make them spar against Kiba. Facing against an experienced Devil would allow her to gauge their strengths and weakness so that she could better help them grow in power.

Gathering everyone in the clearing next to the mansion she proceeded to watch the spars.

Shidou had a bit of experience with swords, but he just knew how to grab properly his sword. Kiba was a knight, so he should be very fast. He held the bokuto tightly, and tried the tips Kiba was giving him.

After a few seconds of silence, Shidou proceeded to attack. He dragged the bokuto around, like he did with Sandalphon. His strange style surprised the Knight for a moment. But in the end, Kiba proved his title as Knight was truly earned. Evading all of Shidou's attacks with ease and countering with precise movements that spoke of the many hours of training he devoted to the art of the sword.

"Alright that's enough." she stopped the clearly one sided match. "Are you all right, Shidou-kun?"

"Yes, Rias-sama." He responded with a neutral tone, which Issei didn't appreciate. Then again, he thought of it like a fluke.

"All right, Ise. It's your turn." Shidou handed over the bokuto to him, but he refused it.

"I think I'll go with my fists." Issei said, summoning his sacred gear. "I'm not going to use a sword, and I want to try this like a test." She smiled at his words. Truly, after his altercations with the fallen-angels it seemed that he was starting to favor more of a brawler approach to combat.

He looked over to Twice Critical, which was in its Boost Mode. There weren't any claws, but it completely covered his arm until his elbow. He imagined them, and they appeared, but he quickly vanished them. He didn't want to hurt Kiba.

"Whenever you're ready, Issei-san." Kiba took his pose, waiting for the attack of Issei.

Issei wanted to test the speed of a Knight, seeing if his boost could do anything against him. He started to run towards Kiba.

_Boost!_

The change in Issei's speed almost took by surprise Kiba, but he quickly regained his pose and dodged his attack.

Issei launched another punch, which was parried by Kiba's bokuto. He couldn't use his wings, as they were an impediment in a close range fight. He was thinking too much about using his fist, so he tried another thing.

He spun around, and threw a low kick at Kiba. He looked surprised at the change of strategy and jumped to avoid the kick. Issei didn't stop there and tried to hit him in mid-air. However, the knight was fast even in the air and also dodged his attack. He landed in the ground, and quickly hit him in the guts with the bokuto.

"Why is it always there…" Issei jumped back to put some distance between them. "**Twice Critical, Shoot Mode!**" The sacred gear morphed into his long distance mode.

He tried to hit Kiba with a few blasts, but he was just too fast. One moment was at his left, and in the other he was at his right. He was getting close… He was getting frustrated of missing everytime.

An idea appeared in Issei's mind, and used his newly acquired demonic power to make a new attack. The jewel in his palm shined brightly, prepared for another wave of energy, but instead of shooting it forward, he shot it towards the ground. An AOE attack. Area Of Effect. He couldn't miss like that!

Kiba jumped in the air, and Issei hissed something. The attack kept going towards the girls. Though it hit Koneko, she barely noticed anything, and the wave disappeared afterwards. For some reason, her clothes were partly ripped, leaving parts of her body exposed.

"K-Koneko, I-It was an accident…" The little girl was glaring at him. "I'm sorry?" The girl turned back and entered the building, Issei was going to say something else, but he kept it to himself.

"That's enough. Ise, you did well." Issei didn't know if it was sarcastic or not, but coming from his Buchou he took it with pride.

"All right, my pawns, right now you are the weakest of the group." Issei felt a dagger going through his chest. "However, you have 9 days to improve your abilities. Shidou, you need to master your sword, that's why you should train with Kiba. As you see, he is one of a kind. You should also improve your demonic power, but the sword is your main defense and attack." Shidou nodded at her statement, and followed Kiba's track, not bothering excusing himself.

"Ise, I saw that you control much better your sacred gear." Issei nodded, but he was still shocked after Buchou's statement. One thing was telling yourself that you are weak, but if someone you like tells you that… it hurt. "I have also seen that you got already a few tricks up your sleeve. You control your demonic powers much better than I expected, it looks natural to you." Issei nodded again, but he didn't fully hear her. "Koneko will be more than happy to help you with your close combat skills, but also focus in your demonic powers. You are doing well, Ise-kun" This time he did hear her, and happily smiled.

"Yes Buchou!" He went back inside the mansion. After seeing that no one was there, he punched the wall.

"Damn it! Not even a single hit… Even with the boost…" Too much had happened. Buchou had called him weak… He already knew that! Why was he feeling so depressed?! His left arm started itching again. He had used demonic power, why was it itching? Was it also attached to his feelings?

Sighing heavily, he went to find Akeno. He needed to think in happy things… He could get stronger… He was forgetting again that power didn't mean everything. It was clear he wasn't smart, but he needed to be clever. Even then, his mood was very low.

"Ah, Akeno-san! Can you help me for a bit?" Issei saw her walking down the hallway.

"Why, of course! What do you need me for? That technique of yours?"

"N-No, I'll work on that on my own time. I wanted some help with… well…"A strange smile appeared in Akeno.

"You don't need to say it… Just let it flow out."

* * *

"No, not like that. Copy my pose. Yeah! You are doing it right. Now try to remember that pose to make it seem natural." Shidou was struggling with Kiba's training. He didn't let one single mistake pass through. Apparently one mistake was enough to be killed in a duel.

"Sorry, Kiba-san. I'm making you slow down your training."

"Don't worry, I'll get stronger if I train with you. Now that you mastered the pose, you need to see my movements." Shidou smiled a bit at Kiba's response. He was getting train from a sword's master!

"That seems easy enough…" However Kiba's smirk turned out to be more sadistic than nothing.

"While you do that you'll need to do some flexing exercise. A thousand seems all right to me." Shidou's face dropped to the ground.

"How is this helping me with swordsmanship?!" He yelled out.

"If you see my movements, you'll be able to at least see where I'm going to hit you. The exercise is because you need it." Kiba summoned a fire sword and an Ice sword.

"You hurt my feelings… And how I'm going to see you?" Shidou wondered. He didn't want to do all of that without little to any improvement.

"As you aren't a knight, you have two choices: Being as fast as me, or using your demonic powers to see me. I suggest you the second one." He started to use a tree as a dummy. Apparently Kiba wanted to improve his dual wielding.

"Come on! Start!" The Knight yelled. Shidou started his exercise, barely seeing his senior. The way his neck was didn't help him either. He wanted to train with Akeno… she seemed nicer.

* * *

"Come on Ise…Faster!"

"I-I'm trying!"

"You won't last forever with that stamina…"

"I-I can't…" Issei fell to the ground… He had used every bit of demonic power he had in him. Akeno really was a sadist.

"You shot 30 blasts before almost passing out… I guess we'll have to work out with what you have." The Queen's training was literally hell. She said that she wanted to see his limit, so the better option was to use all his power. The only good thing was that the itching in his arm had ceased… Oh and he got to see Akeno in a miko outfit. Apparently she uses it in fights.

"At least you managed to hit half of the trees." Akeno crouched at his side. Issei could see her cleavage, distracting him from his suffering.

"Do you want to rest a bit?..." He could feel her breath passing through him… The things he could do… He could fall in the hands of perversion once in a while… NO! Left arm, don't start itching!

"I'm all right!"He got up, and summoned Twice Critical. Issei immediately felt bad for standing, but something told him to do it.

"Back to full health? Then let's continue…" They were in the forest, in a clearing. Before there were trees in that place, but Issei's blasts made it seem like a hill. A death hill, filled with burned trees, but it was still a hill.

"See that tree over there? You need to hit it with a wave of energy." She explained.

"That it's easy enough…" Issei locked on the tree and lifted his left hand up. "**Twice Critical, Shoot Mode!**" The gauntlet yet again transformed, adopting the form you all know and love.

"Ah, but you are facing the wrong way… You'll need to hit it, without seeing it." Issei's face at that moment was a mix of despair, courage and confusion, all together.

"…Imagination?" He asked the Priestess of Thunder who nodded in response.

After several failed attempts, Akeno spoke up.

"Imagine that it's something you really like, maybe that way it will be easier." That was the first time he got directly help from her.

The tree… No… Buchou was behind him, he needed to undress her without any suspicion…

He closed his eyes, and started to see everything in third person. In the middle, there was a boy. It was him. By his side there was a girl. It was Akeno. And the tree in question was the one greener than the others. It transformed into Rias.

He shot out a small ball of energy, easier to control. It went slowly, but it started to make a turn. The ball had already made a 180 turn, and it had already passed the spot he was on. He saw no more reason to go slow, and made it go full speed toward Rias… Or the tree.

"Congratulations! Are you sure this is your first time using demonic powers?"

"Yes… But how is this going to help in battle? Can't we something more… useful?" Issei looked at the tree, which had lost all its leaves.

"You need to control the basics first, Ise. Then you'll be able to use your power in almost every way."

"Every way?..." Issei looked at his Twice Critical. If only he could…! "Thanks, Akeno-san! I know what to do!" He darted off towards the house, leaving a confused Akeno in the middle of the forest.

* * *

The sun was already setting when Issei reached the mansion. He spotted Shidou doing some exercises, and Kiba had made a path of broken and frozen trees. The other pawn was panting heavily, and fell to the ground exhausted. Issei went inside the manor, and tried to find Asia.

"Asia? Where are you?" He wandered in the hallways of the big house. How big was this?! It would take years to find her.

He found her looking to a wall.

"Asia? What are you doing?" She looked at him surprised, not realizing there was someone else.

"The wall is bended… It wasn't that way this morning…" The pawn remembered hitting the wall, but he didn't realize he made any real damage.

"I'm sure you only forgot it… Ah, after dinner, can you meet up with me at my bedroom?" Asia blushed heavily, not knowing what he really meant.

"Oh… well, uh, I… If you want…" Issei patted her head.

"Thanks a lot! Now… where was the kitchen?" Asia was still blushing for Issei's words, and she walked off to her room.

"I-I'm done…" Shidou was lying down in the grass, trying to regain his normal breath.

"Have you done any progress?" Kiba was also breathing more heavily than normal, but he kept his cool attitude.

"I…Think…so… I can… almost…see you… most of…the times." The reason he was panting was because after two hours of doing exercise, he made him run around the house while he followed him. With a sword. Trying to hit him. If he didn't improve he would gladly jump off a cliff.

"See? My training might be a bit hard, but you got some improvements." Kiba offered his hand to Shidou, who gladly took it. A BIT HARD?!

"Yeah… Tomorrow can I… Use a sword?" Kiba's look told him otherwise. "Ah damn it…"

"Tomorrow hopefully will be your last day of physical training. Then we can start with actual training, as you already know the ropes of basic swordsmanship." They entered the house and a bit after they found their little Rook in the kitchen.

"Koneko-san! How was your training? I've only see you once in the whole day."

"Great." The new pawn didn't know if she actually didn't like him, or she just didn't care.

"Have you seen Issei-san? I'm a bit curious about those swords I made for him." Kiba asked, as he saw the swords lying in the floor. She shook her head, but pointed towards a door.

"He was with Asia, maybe you need to save her."

"I finally found them… Eh?" Issei walked through the door, to see the three of them looking at him. It was… awkward. "I was looking for…the swords…" He pointed out.

"Ah, I was about to ask you about them. What did you need them for?" The Knight this time looked more curious about the strange situation.

"It's my secret technique… I can't tell you what." Koneko looked oddly at the pawn. She sensed something strange with him, but maybe it was just his perverted nature.

"Koneko-chan, tomorrow can I train with you?" He said while he was picking the swords. They were actually a bit heavy.

"Sure…"

"Thank you!" He looked at Koneko, who was looking at his left arm. He felt a bit of fear and ran to his room, carrying his five swords.

What was wrong with that girl?

"Koneko-san… do you actually hate him?" Shidou asked concerned at his first friend in the peerage.

"No. He's just a pervert."

* * *

After that they gathered up and had dinner peacefully. The two pawns complained about the exhausting training, but nothing else disturbed the night. After dinner, Issei went back to his room, followed by Asia. Shidou also went back to his room, as did the others.

"Ise-san… what are we going to do?" Asia bashfully asked.

"I need your help for… a secret project. The thing is that it may break my body and I want you to heal me." Issei's statement was serious, if he succeeded in this technique, he could be par on par with everyone, and not behind like he is now.

"Oh… I thought we… I'll help you!" Issei then opened the door to his room, trying to keep his thoughts together. Don't try anything perverted…maybe two or three…Not more!

Shidou also wanted to try something, but it was purposes much more obscure than Issei's.

"Efreet, come here." A magical circle appeared in the ground, and his familiar appeared with a cheerful expression.

"You know about my sacred gear right?" The spirit blushed, but nodded.

"Can I… try it with you?" His familiar sighed and did some weird gesture with her hands. Does she want something?

"You… want to do what?" Efreet facepalmed, and shot a blast of fire towards the wall, leaving it black. Then she got close to it and started to do something. She was scratching the wall, making words appear.

_To use my powers, Catalyst!_

"…Uh? And where the hell do I find a catalyst?" Efreet turned to the wall again.

_Dunno._

"… Ah whatever. I'll need to use the normal way then…" He actually didn't want to train, but if the others did, he didn't want to be left alone. "Wait, you know how to write? Why don't you speak then?" She looked angry for a moment, and started to write again.

_Can't. Fire inside._

"You are made of fire… so you don't eat or anything?" The spirits mood changed from annoyed to a mischievous smile. He didn't like where this was going to.

_No. Naughty stuff?_

"What? No! Come on get out of here." The familiar didn't complain, but instead of leaving, she went to another room. A girl with white hair was inside of it.

After a few knocks in the window, the nekomata opened the window, and let inside the fire spirit. They stared at each other for a moment, before Efreet shot another wave of fire to the wall, repeating the same process as before.

_Nekomata, Master needs help!_

Koneko didn't know how the spirit knew that, and was surprised when she looked again to the wall. But instead of focusing in the first word, she felt more worried about the others. After all, the spirit was a magical being and could see almost everything.

"Help?" The little spirit nodded, and started to write once again.

_He is crazy! Talks alone with ghosts. Efreet can see everything! But Efreet does not see ghosts!_

Koneko wasn't sure if the spirit was joking with her, but she seemed very serious with this.

"What do you want me to do?" She was ready to help her friends, but she didn't know how.

_Dunno_

"…" They stared at each other but they didn't react. Koneko was the first one to break the silence. "Why do you ask me for help?"

_Master talks with you! And you have a flat chest like Efreet! Can be trust!_

"… Don't act like that." Did the spirit have no shame? "Don't act like Issei-senpai." The spirit remembered something and started to write again.

_Pervert boy is sick! Efreet can see it! He cannot be trust! _

"Sick?... Why are you telling me this? Why don't you say it to the others?"

_Master does not trust the others! Only nekomata and pervert! You must not tell anyone! Or Efreet will be very mad! Help Master! And get rid of pervert boy before it's too late!_

The spirit turned into ashes, not before erasing the strange message with another wave of fire.

Koneko knew something was wrong with Issei. She had felt another source of life energy with him, but it disappeared as soon as she sensed it. It was like it knew… The worst thing was that he didn't say anything. Maybe that energy was helping Issei? Or was it using him? She didn't know, but the spirit told her to kill him. She obviously wouldn't do it. That last sentence must be a joke. Issei's behavior was almost the same, he was still a pervert, maybe even less than normal. That was good… If all this was true, she would tell Rias, but right now there was no need to worry her. She already had a lot in mind.

Tomorrow she was going to train him. There she would decide what to do with that information.

The other problem was Shidou. This wasn't a problem for her to handle, and Rias should know this. In fact, she would tell her right now.

* * *

**DUN DUN DUN. And that was only a day... don't worry though, the next chapter will be the last of the training, but a bit longer than this one. This was a pretty chapter, right? Almost no bad things happened to Issei... yet. **

**Most of you have already thought about something being in Twice Critical, however even though some have been close, no one has discovered the truth. And probably won't because it's pretty bizarre. Well, i better not say anything else...**

**By the way, Issei will have a harem but it will cost him more, because he thinks he has some kind of rivalry with Shidou. Speaking of which, he is not the happy boy we all thought he was. He also has some f*cked up past. To clear things out, it isn't related to Date A Live. It's more obscure.  
**

**So, Who wants some answers!?  
**

**_-Shin XIX_: Yep, i didn't give it a name for two reasons. First: We will need the help of some sacred gear expert... Yeah, him. And Second: I can't seem to find an imposing name...  
**

**-_guest?_: I would have an easier time if you had an actual account, but let's see. Considering the course of the story, it will be a bit hard to make Ravel enter Issei's harem. However it might be possible, i would say a 50% she actually enters. And about his Twice Critical... i have some strange ideas about it. Just think of it about something that has reach...**

**_-blueprintLV_: Damn, i actually thought you couldn't blush reading reviews. I don't know how i am inspiring you, but i hope it's good.**

**-Karlos1234ify: Yup, this is one of the things that bugged me in the series. Winning by sheer strength. Although it mostly happens in the first novels, I'm weird and i didn't like it. Shidou actually won't be very happy if he gets a harem... Just because spoilers.**

**So, Issei is trying some new techniques... What do you think they will be? It isn't the dress break, as he already has something that replaces it.  
**

**And... a good name for Shidou's sacred gear? I already have some names, but maybe you all have some better options.**

**Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favourites! See you next chapter.**


	5. Deep Within

**Warning! Very strange chapter ahead. By the way, this chapter is OVER 9000! words. Basically they were two chapters but I fused them. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

How a devil can see in the dark and still be able to see in colors is some of those things you'll never know. At the very least you won't get scared so easily, and the chances of being attack decrease exponentially. But if something is creepy… that little aid won't really help. Creepiness is one of those things that you won't be able to make disappear, even if you are brave and have courage. That primitive state that gives fear is one of those things that makes you feel alive, and helps you being alive. Why do you think all those fierce heroes are dead?

However, it also makes you feel weak. Not physically, but mentally. A person with fear is easily manipulated, even if they are heavily opposed to that idea. And when you are manipulated, you fall in a false state of safety which leads you to idolize your 'savior'. It doesn't matter if it's a person, a god, or a freak, you would even murder for that person.

Why am I telling you this? Because that is something that everyone has in common. Humans, devils, fallen angels… even dragons. Who wouldn't idolatrize the immense power of an Ultimate-Class demon? Better to be in the good side of someone who can kill you with a simple glare, right?

But I'm not in the side of the manipulated. Right now I'm…how can you say it? Being a parasite? No… it would be more like a symbiosis. I help the host, and he helps me doing my task. How many times have I done this…? I don't really know, but this time… Oh, this time I feel like I got _THE _host. Even though he was a demon… which could be a very big problem.

Not to mention his sickening devil companions. The nekomata needed to be dealt with. If she noticed him any more times, he would need to… finish the problem. I need to be discreet. If the demons found out, they would probably kill me. Along with my host.

But it was going I just need to use the Rating Game to my advantage. Keep fueling those emotions and Zoom Zoom Iyaaan!

* * *

"Koneko-chan? Where are you…?" Issei was slowly advancing through the forest. After another morning exercise lead by his Buchou, Koneko and Issei went to the forest near the mansion. After some time of walking around, he noticed that his fellow Rook wasn't beside him. She hadn't left him in the middle of the forest just for nothing, it should be a task of some kind.

He stopped for a moment, trying to see his surroundings. Birds chirped around him, the leaves made soothing sound…He could just sit down and take a nap, but he needed to train. Everything was calm…

Something changed in the atmosphere, a sound that wasn't so natural.

"**Twice Critical, Shoot Mode.**" There was… a disturbance in the area. Could it be…?

"Gotcha!" He shot a small wave of energy, making the leaves around him fly in a circle. However, the blast didn't hit anything. What the…

He saw something in the corner of his eye too late. A small figure was already at his side, and tackled him to the ground.

"Ouch… Koneko! At least tell me you are going to do something like that!" The girl was on top of him, making it unable to move. But she released him after a moment, seeing that she would not gain anything like that.

Last night she decided to go tell Rias everything she had learned through the familiar. Even though she threatened her, it was most likely pointless to attack her. She wanted to get rid of that weight, but she needed to wait as there was somebody else in the room.

"What do you mean fluctuating?" She could hear the voice of Rias coming from the room.

"It's strange… Sometimes the blasts can destroy a tree, and the next moment it can't even kill a fly. It's not normal." The voice of Akeno was strange, like a detective who tried to found the culprit.

"Are you sure it's not that he lacks control? You know how Ise is sometimes." They were talking about Issei? Maybe she needed to tell what she learned about him…

"No, his control is almost perfect… given the right motive." Koneko didn't want to eavesdrop anymore, as it was rude.

She opened the door, to see that both girls were looking at her.

"Rias-sama, I have some information about Issei." She didn't want to disturb her more, but seeing that the information given by the familiar was more than likely true, she decided to tell her. After all, she couldn't lie to her.

"What do you mean Koneko?" She looked at her with a confused expression. Was she trying to cover that discussion? It didn't matter, as she had already heard it.

"Shidou's familiar entered and…"

"Wait, how did she come to you? Did he send her?" It was now Akeno's turn to speak.

"I don't think so, it looked like an independent act." Koneko responded, not moving her gaze from Rias. "But that's not important, she gave me a message."

"What is it?" Rias looked concerned, familiars couldn't appear in this world without being summoned by their master. Even if she was summoned, why give a message without an order?

"Shidou has a psychological problem and is seeing ghosts. And Issei is sick and should be… disposed. I myself have been noticing another entity around Issei, and it seems aware of his surroundings." A disturbance silence conquered the room for some long seconds. Nobody moved an inch until the King sighed.

"Shidou must be traumatized about something… and Ise… does he know about this entity?" Her voice was sad, so much had happened to her in a few days. It seemed problems appeared out of nowhere.

"It looks like it… he acts weird when I look at his arm." Koneko tried to assure her savior.

"But that isn't a problem, right? Whatever it is, it's helping him. It's more than likely that the fluctuation in his power is this entity. We would just need to see if his demonic power is mixed up with magic." Akeno did the same as her.

"All right… I think I know how to deal with Shidou's problem, so I leave Issei to you two." Both the Queen and Rook nodded.

But how do you know if the demonic-power has magic in it? Well… it's something that Shidou does with his sacred gear.

"Uh… K-Koneko? Can you get off me?" Issei was pinned down to the ground by the Rook. She sure was strong, but this posture wasn't really helping him.

"Pervert." She got off him, and took some steps back. Issei was still puzzled at the strange reaction she had. She was the one that tackled him!

"Sure… So can you teach me now?"

"We already started. And you failed." Issei's expression was priceless.

"EEH?! That was a test?!" The sacred gear changed to the boost mode. "Then I'll have to pass the course!"

_Boost!_

The perverted pawn charged at Koneko, who had some trouble dodging the blow. However she avoided it flawlessly. The pawn's attack didn't end there, and tried to hit her with his elbow, which she had to block. Then, she grabbed his arm and threw him towards a tree, which was almost knocked down.

"Ouch… I'm not done yet!" He fell to the ground, but quickly recovered. The jewel in his hand acquired a faint red glow, meaning that the boost was about to run out.

Knowing the little time he had, he charged at the girl. He tried a sucker punch which failed, blocked by her right arm. However, he was hoping for this and tried a front kick but his agility was not enough and was easily dodged by her. Losing his balance, he fell to the ground and lost his boost.

"Don't do that, you could have lost the leg right there." Don't say it with that tone! It looks that you don't really care! "Let's improve your elasticity…"

**4 Long Hours later…**

"I don't think this works…" Issei's body had been twisted in ways he never thought possible. He preferred walking around with a ton of luggage than those exercises. Koneko insisted that he would feel the effects, but the only effects he felt were is muscles screaming at him.

"Try to hit me." The Rook prepared herself and took his battle stance. Even though he would not be at 100%, it would not be easy. Issei could barely move, but his will was stronger than the pain.

_Boost!_

"Here goes nothing!" Feeling the energy going through his body, Issei charged at Koneko. This time he had a plan.

The Rook made a quick uppercut, which Issei dodged by rolling through the ground.

Being a Rook gives you an immense strength and stamina. A single punch could leave you K.O. so dodging and rolling was the best maneuver.

Koneko, seeing this movement spun around and tried to hit Issei with a low kick. The pawn, who was still in the middle of rolling, used his hands to get away from the kick and jumped. It looked like his reaction time had improved a bit, maybe thanks to the boost.

How could a Pawn beat a Rook? They had to combine a devastating hit, enough to break their defense, with a quick retreat, to leave with a flawless victory.

They both charged at each other, and Issei hoped that he had enough strength to get away with his crazy plan.

The downside is, how to get close enough to the Rook, before it destroys you. Issei hadn't any idea… yet. So he had to do this.

Koneko threw a weak punch, but with enough energy to knock him out. It would be stupid to take it head on. And that's exactly what he did. Using his left arm, he blocked her punch and redirected to the left. It hurt, but it gave him enough time to counterattack. He made her trip with his leg, but in that exact moment he lost the boost.

They both fell to the ground, and Issei fell in top of her.

"Itte-te-te… I hit you! I passed the test! I'm the best! Around! No one is-" Overtaken by the joy of victory, Issei hadn't noticed where he had fell and what he was touching.

"You…You…" Koneko wasn't very happy of what was happening.

"S-Sorry! Like it was so flat I-"

**Meanwhile…**

"Kiba, are you hearing that?" Shidou stopped his exercise when he heard the strange noise.

"Yes… It sounds like a dying goat." Kiba stopped hitting his invisible opponent.

"Uh? It comes from the sky…"

The object landed just in front of the two boys, who looked with curiosity at the strange object.

"SENPAI?!" Issei had broken the first rule of being with Koneko. Telling her she has a flat chest.

"B-Bring…Asia…" He was pretty sure his legs were broken, his right hand, his arm, several ribs and he lost some neurons in the process. The good thing was that Twice Critical had protected his left arm!

"Don't worry, Shidou-san, I'll do it." Koneko appeared from the woods and grabbed Issei by his collar. She dragged him all around the mansion until they found the Twilight Healing user.

* * *

"Uh… What happened?" He checked his body, which felt rejuvenated. He looked around and saw Koneko sitting in a chair beside him.

"Sorry…" She said, not meeting his glance. He remembered now, he had maybe insulted Koneko… and that was very bad, she was helping him!

"No, it's me who should be sorry." Koneko looked at him, a bit confused at his words. "A true man loves every kind of breast!" And there she lost him.

"No matter the size, a man should love and respect any breasts! Flat chests shouldn't be ashamed of what they are, they should be grateful!" Issei stood up in his bed, stars flying out him!

"The variety they bring to the collection it's indispensable! In a world with only big breasts, half of the male population would end up like Makoto Ito! Decapitated! That's why me, Hyoudou Issei, will have a harem with every kind of- Where did she go?!" The chair was empty. He quickly opened the door, and ran after her.

"Koneko! I was trying to comfort you!" Koneko looked at him with skeptic eyes. "What I mean is that you don't need to feel uncomfortable for your chest size… Even I, who has a preference towards big chests, like you this way!" She didn't know how to react, so she chose the quickly way out.

"Pervert… Let's continue." A shade of pink appeared in her cheeks, but Issei didn't have time to realize it.

After another 3 hours, they ended the training. They had done some strength build up. Issei had to move around logs like they were a feather, and after that Koneko had taught him how to block punches properly.

Shidou, in the other hand, had improved his speed by running and dodging stabs, and was able to see Kiba 30% of the times.

**5 days until the Rating Game.**

Asia was learning how to heal injuries more quickly, and even with more distance between the injury and her. It was difficult, but the group was hoping that everyone had an improvement, even her. However, she wouldn't have time to learn some basic fighting, and was putting all her efforts in healing.

Even Akeno, who was the strongest of the group and was teaching Asia, still trained in the dark of the night.

Issei's techniques had advanced, but they were still in development. His improvement was amazing, little by little, he had learnt the basics of hand to hand fighting, but still wasn't able to fight Koneko at 100% even with the boost. However, she had taught him the different types of kicks, and thanks to that he had two new weapons in his possession. His legs. Koneko had also improved a bit, but was slowed down by Issei, though he was trying his best.

Shidou was also advancing in his swordsman abilities, he was nowhere the master skill of Kiba, but to counter that big gap he used demonic-powers. He didn't ask Akeno for help, which was odd. Like Koneko, he had also improved, but was also slowed down even if he didn't admit it.

However, Rias was very happy with everyone's improvements. There were still 5 days left, and everyone was putting all their efforts into winning.

"Buchou? Can I talk with you for a moment?" His little perverted pawn appeared from the mansion, for some reason with tension in his shoulders.

"Why are you so stiff? Good timing, take a seat, let's talk for a bit."

Sitting at the table his mood was improved by the sight that stood before him.

Wearing a red negligee and wearing glasses, her crimson hair tied into a braid, Rias made a lovely sight sitting amidst countless papers and graphics.

"Huh? Buchou, do you have bad eyesight?"

"Oh, this? It's just for looks. I can think more clearly while having my glasses on. This is the proof that I have been in the human's world for so long." She said with a chuckle.

"…To be honest, the only thing I will get by reading this is to have peace of mind."

Rias said while sighing.

"Why is that?"

"If the opponent was another High-class Devil, then we could fight by strategizing. By collecting lots of research and finding the best possible solution. But that isn't the problem."

"Then what's wrong?" He asked confused.

"Raiser himself is the problem. Or better said the biggest problem is that our opponent is from the house of Phenex." Rias said while taking out a book and pointing out at a picture of a firebird with its wings spread wide open.

"A long time ago the mystical beast, Phoenix, was looked upon by humans as a bird that governed life. Leaving behind countless legends in many countries in the human world where it's told that the tears of the Phoenix can heal any wounds, and the blood that flows within its body can grant immortality."

"And therein lays the problem, for there is a devil's clan that, while different from the mystical beast Phoenix, has the same powers as the legendary firebirds. They hold the rank of Marquis, and are counted as one of the 72 pillars, the Phoenix from the Devil's side, the house of Phenex."

"In other words, immortality, that's our true opponent. We must defeat an immortal enemy."Rias finished grimly.

"That's cheating! I mean being immortal is basically being invincible!" Issei said, the thought of an invincible opponent making him start to panic.

"Yes. They are basically invincible. Even if you attack them, their wounds will heal right away. Eight victories and two losses, that's Raiser's official record at the Rating Game. But in truth he is undefeated; having purposely forfeited two of his matches as a show of appreciation to other households he is close to."

A somber expression in her face she looked Issei in his eyes and continued.

"I felt somewhat uneasy when I heard that Raiser was chosen as my fiancé. Even if I couldn't tell at the time I think Otou-sama and the others chose him in case something like this was to happen. They chose Raiser so I will have no choice but to marry him. Even if it becomes a match between households, they knew that there was no way for me to win. In chess you could say they tricked me. A swindle you could say."

Seeing that her words were truly starting to depress Issei, Rias decide to tell him what hope they still had.

"You know, it's not like we can't defeat Raiser?"

"Are you serious!?"

"Yes. There are two ways you can defeat him. One is to beat him down with incredible power and the other one is to keep on taking him down until his mind is crushed. The first method requires the strength of a God-class being. The second is to keep forcing him to resurrect, even if his body is immortal, his mind isn't. His mental strength decreases every time he is defeated, eventually leading to an end to his resurrections. But we have another way now… Shidou's sacred gear, Sandalphon can absorb any kind of magic. If he can stab him enough times, we might have a new way.

"Buchou." Issei's expression darkened at the mention of Shidou, but having got some confidence with the knowledge their defeat wasn't certain, Issei decided to ask a question that had been in his mind for a while.

"What is it?"

"Why do you hate Raiser…no, more like, why are you against this marriage so much?"

Rias sighed at the question.

"…I'm a 'Gremory'."

"Huh? W-Well, you certainly are…"

"No. I didn't re-introduce myself. I'm a Devil from the House of Gremory, and that name will follow me to wherever I go."

"And while I feel proud of it, this is also something that is a burden to me. Everyone looks at me as Rias from the Gremory. I can't have them look at me simply as Rias. That's why I'm enjoying my life in the human world. They don't know about my house, everyone looks at me as whom I am and I really like that feeling. I never felt something like that in the Devil's society, and I know I never will. The only time I can enjoy my life as myself is when I'm in the human world."

"I want to be with someone who will love me as Rias without the fact that I'm a Gremory. That's my small dream. Unfortunately, Raiser only looks at me and sees my title, Gremory. He does not love me, he loves the power and prestige that comes with my clan name, and that's why I hate it. And while I know my clan's situation is complicated, I still want to cherish this small dream I have." She finished with a pained look in her face.

Issei's face that had been showing more and more confusion as Rias told her tale was suddenly set into a look of determination.

"I don't know anything about Gremory, noble clans or even about the Devils' world, but to me Rias-buchou is Rias-buchou… Nggh, I don't understand all the complicated stuff but to me the usual Buchou is the best!" He said with complete honesty, a smile in his face.

Upon hearing those words Rias face turned the same shade as her hair.

"B-Buchou? D-Did I say something weird?" He asked confused

"I-It's nothing!"Rias quickly said in a panic.

Shrugging his shoulders Issei remembered his initial unease.

"I just wish I could be more useful to you. I think I've gotten stronger since I came here and trained with everyone, but more than that…I felt the difference between us, and I can't do anything about it! I can't even do anything with my sacred gear, I hit the girl by sheer luck."He said in an ever growing tone of sadness.

"I found out that I was the weakest, I also found out that, I'm the most useless, I realized it means nothing to have an only boost. That's why I was laughed at by Raiser back then, right? I'm not even strong enough to defend anyone, I'm just a kitten trying to fight a tiger."

Finally saying out loud what had been tormenting him for days, Issei started to cry.

Standing up and taking a seat next to him, Rias enveloped Issei in a comforting hug, gently patting his back.

"You are not weak Ise, far from it. You want confidence, right? Okay, I will give you confidence. But now, you have to rest your body and mind. I will be with you until you feel like sleeping."

And with those words Rias placed Issei in the couch, his head in her lap, and gently caressed his hair until he was asleep.

* * *

After that night, Issei had regained a bit of confidence. Even though he lost a night of training, it was worth it. After he learnt that Raiser was immortal, he panicked and thought the phoenix was invincible. But after that, he remembered something. Immortal means you can live forever, but it doesn't make you invincible. Buchou also said some forms of beating him. If he could gather enough demonic power to make a strong wave, he could be the one that beats Raiser, and not the other pawn.

Speaking of which, he didn't know why he felt so uncomfortable around him. It couldn't be because he lost, because it was his own fault. Maybe he should apologize to him, but now he needed to train.

"All right, Koneko-chan, I'm ready!" Issei got into his custom battle stance. He was sideways with his left arm, the one who had Twice Critical, acting like a shield and his right hand making a fist. It looked like a medieval knight who lost his weapons, but Issei was more armed now.

_Boost!_

They were just outside the mansion, so they needed to control their powers to not make any significant damage.

The Rook was happy of having an opponent taller than her, as Kiba used his swords and not his fists. Though she wasn't at her best, she could still learn some things. That reminded her that she needed to check his arm, as Akeno strangely hadn't accomplished it yet. Even though he was a pervert, he still had some self control. That or he just didn't realize it.

She attacked first with a roundhouse kick, which was avoided by a swift roll. The pawn seeing a gap in her defense, tried to tackle her but Koneko was strong enough to stop him. When he realized his mistake, he was already launched towards the sky.

"Come on, Twice Critical, don't fail me now!" Making an X with his arm, a pair of wings appeared in his back. He still didn't know how to fly, but it wasn't necessary. He started to fall down, but instead of going towards the ground, he used his wings to redirect his fall towards the mansion's roof. When he was close enough, a quick maneuver with his bat wings was enough to lessen the damage.

"I…I did it! Issei 2, law of gravity 7." He looked around the roof, but didn't see anything abnormal. Where was Koneko…?

"Here." He saw too late Koneko hovering above him, and she had a freaking rock?!

"Damn! **Twice Critical, Shoot Mode!**" Issei had discovered a flaw in the sacred gear. His boost disappeared when he changed mode, and it left him without any protection in the moment of change.

Seeing the rock already too close, he hoped that his normal strength was enough to redirect the rock. He gathered all the energy he could, and launched a blast not strong enough to destroy the rock, but strong enough to at least threw it away.

Or so he thought.

He didn't account the strength of the Rook and he was… how can you say it? Oh yeah, fucked.

"…**Boost Mode!**"

He stretched his arms, and prepared himself for the impact. It was going to hurt. Like a lot.

* * *

"Efreet, come here." It was the afternoon, and Shidou had taken the excuse of training with demonic powers to escape Kiba. He could hear Issei talking with Koneko. They were going to do some weird training outside.

The spirit appeared from below the bed, and presented herself with a military salute.

"I talked with Akeno… and she told there isn't a catalyst!" The spirit covered her mouth with her hand, trying to cover her laugh. A small sphere of fire appeared in her hand, but Shidou stopped her.

"Don't! I have brought a notebook and some paint. The pencils were as tall as you…" Efreet looked in awe at the tar with the blue paint and covered her hand with the foreign liquid.

_Awesome! Efreet is blue!_

"Yeah it looks neat… Don't distract me! Answer!" The spirit pouted and started to write in the notebook.

_Efreet dies without fire. Efreet doesn't want to die, so Efreet lied._

"Oh… you should have told me that since the beginning…" A devilish smirk appeared in her face.

_Maybe if we have sex, it might work!_

"…No! You are as tall as a pencil, I don't think you know what you're saying! How old are you anyways?" The spirit looked insulted at his words.

_Efreet has only some thousands years! Efreet still has a nice body!_

"… Maybe you would if I didn't confuse you with a dragonfly." Shidou teased his familiar.

_Efreet is very tall! Efreet can do lots of things!_

"For a fly maybe. Ha, that reminds me of what Senpai was talking about… Are you able to transform into a… human?" The spirit tilted her head, but nodded with enthusiasm.

"I'll need to tell him that…now, where is he?"

A big breaking sound traversed all the way through the mansion. Quickly summoning Sandalphon, he ran towards the center of the house, waiting for the worst. He saw the origin of the sound. A rock bigger than a bus was standing there for some reason.

"Who put that there?"

"Uh?" It started to move for some reason, and in the middle there was a figure. "Senpai?! Let me help you!"

"I'm… fine… Just a sec…"

_Boost!_

"Koneko, catch!" With the newfound force, he threw the rock upwards, directly to the Rook to catch.

"…Rias-sama isn't going to be very happy with this." Shidou started to move back little by little.

"Shidou… wait. I wanted to tell you that- Oh, Buchou!" Issei's apologetic look changed to one with fear. Certainly, Rias wasn't really happy that her mansion's hall had a big hole in the ceiling. Not to mention the gap that appeared in the ground.

"Ise… Do you remember what I said about the mansion, right?" A wicked smile replaced her angry look.

"T-That it should b-be left even better than before?" That bastard Shidou had escaped!

"Very good, and what do you think about the appearance of the hall?"

"Eh… That it won't be hot in summer?" Issei let a nervous laugh come out of his mouth.

"…You know what, Ise? After we beat Raiser, the punishment you will have, is going to be recorded in the next history books." Issei's left arm started to ache, even with the sacred gear.

"Rias-sama." The voice of Koneko appeared behind Issei. "It was me who threw the rock, it's entirely my fault." She was looking sad, and her glare was lost in the ground.

"…Then I'll have to punish both of you." Rias wasn't going to be hard, she just didn't want them to think that they could do everything they thought. They weren't slaves, but they also couldn't disrespect an order. Especially this one.

"No! It was my fault for being weak! If I was stronger nothing would have happen!" Issei, however, didn't see it that way. Koneko wouldn't have done it if she thought he couldn't handle it. It was entirely his fault. Because he was weak.

His left arm's pain grew even larger, he could feel his fingers shivering on their own. No, a shivering was spontaneous, but they looked to move on their own. Without him thinking it.

Koneko had noticed the strange magic around Issei's arm. It could be a perfect opportunity to see the nature of it. With a quick signal to Rias, she pointed out Issei's left arm. Without further thinking, she grabbed his arm.

Issei was surprised when the girl grabbed his arm, making the pain and the strange spasm to disappear. Did she really care about him? That was impossible, she didn't treat him well. At least she apologizes, but still. Either that or she was dizzy.

Koneko was too busy checking the strange magic in his arm. As soon as she felt it, it moved directly to Issei's sacred gear. To be more specific the green jewel. There was almost no time to see what kind of magic was it, but it definitely wasn't demonic-power. It was like trying to see a planet without an electronic telescope. You can see it isn't a star, but what planet is it?

"K-Koneko? What's wrong?" Issei had completely forgot the discussion he was having, confused by her weird actions. As he finished those words, the Rook released his arm.

"Lost balance." It was an obvious lie, but Issei was oblivious enough to accept it. Or he just wanted to be that.

"…Find some wood and patch the hole. Don't think about the punishment, you need to train." Rias flipped his red hair and went towards her room.

* * *

Later that night, after finally achieving one of his techniques, Issei was sleeping with a grin. Even though the day hadn't gone very well, the results were optimal. Oh, he was still weak, but at least stronger than five days ago. If he had a noble goal, he was sure that he would get stronger.

"_That was sure a new ability, you are surprisingly good for a demon." _ Issei found himself in the middle of a room filled with crystals, in fact they all looked like a gem. They had different shapes, but they all reflected a golden light. Was this a dream?

"_This is your sacred gear, demon." _ Issei had to look away from the source of the voice. A light as bright as the sun was blocking his sight.

"Who are you? I can't really see you."

"_I'm the source of your power. They called me Keshin, the Shining Dragon." _The light in the room died down, and revealed a strange looking dragon. His body was cut in half, only his upper part appearing from the ground. His skin was white, but a major part of his body was covered in yellow. Two strong and long arms supported him, which were adorned with some familiar claws. His head had two pairs of horns, and had a small gem between his red eyes. He had some green wings in his back, but they had some red color in the sharp end of them.

Issei couldn't help but to feel fear. It was like the sensation of being near a church, but even stronger.

"_Relax, demon. You are my host, I... live inside Twice Critical."_ The words of the dragon didn't calm him down.

"Ah…Uh… Hi, why am I here exactly?" Issei took a step of precaution.

"_I know what happens in your mind, young demon, and even if you are in… those years, I shall not tolerate those thoughts every second." _Issei looked confused at the dragon, who simply sighed.

"_You can't have a harem, boy. Choose the girl you love and stay with her." _Issei couldn't have felt so insulted in his whole life.

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?! IT'S MY DREAM!"

"_Exactly, a dream. Even if you become a High-Class demon, and miraculously have a dozen of girls after you, who do you think they will be after, Issei Hyoudou, or his power? It wouldn't be the same, right?" _The pawn didn't respond.

"_I see that you don't want to be a demon, but your pants think otherwise. I'm doing this as a favor, Issei Hyoudou. You still have human emotions, unlike the others, and that's why I'm giving you a chance" _Issei didn't accept his rambling.

"What do you mean unlike the others? Don't treat them like…!"

"_Like demons? They only seek power. What? You think you're alive because your pretty face? I would give you a 7. You are living thanks to Twice Critical. Do you think she would have revived you without me? You don't owe me anything, but think about it." _

"I… I don't care if I'm alive right now! What matters is that Buchou treats me well, like all the others! They are no lesser beings!" The dragon approached Issei, until his eyes met. The pawn didn't back down, as he was furious at the so called dragon.

"_Ah, then tell me. How do they act when they are not around you? Do you know something about them? What do they think about you? Ah, wait! You don't care because, fuck it! They have boobs!" _

"_Remember what you are protecting. Who are you really fighting for? To protect them or to not feel so far behind? It is a noble goal and I respect you by that, but think about my words. I don't want you to hate me, but hear my words." _ The dragon stepped back, leaving a stunned Issei in his knees.

What Keshin did was a risky move. He didn't want to appear to him until… some point in the near future. But the Rook needed to be dealt with. She almost discovered him. His host will train with her again tomorrow, and then… let's see if his host can stand it.

For some reason, he cared about his host. It was the best one he got, but he needed to be more pure. He was a demon, yes, but he didn't act like one. It was something that bugged him. He was just a secluded case. The others can't be like him.

If his host had a strong mind, he wouldn't listen to him. There was a minimal chance that he would tell the King about his… appearance, but he wouldn't.

* * *

"That freaking dragon. Uh, you don't know anything! Blah blah blah." He would show him! He was just a little absorbed in training, he would know about them. Even if it was a dark past, they had a good heart! That dragon was just racist against demons!

"Ah, and you better stop with the pain and itching in the arm! I'm getting real tired of that!" Issei was talking to his left arm.

"_That's just a secondary effect. I'm helping you improve." _

"…And don't speak to me! It's my mind! Not yours, you anti-harem piece of s-"

"Ise…san… who are you…speaking to…?"A very drowsy Asia opened his door, briefly embarrassing the pawn.

"Nothing! Just practicing my speeches!" He got into the bed and faked sleep.

"Ah… let's… sleep…" Asia got into his bed, and hugged Issei. He appreciated the action but tried to wake her up.

"A-Asia? This isn't your bed…" She didn't wake up, and he surrender. After all, it wasn't his fault. She willingly entered his bed, and she isn't waking up. So better enjoy the night with her.

_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_

"YES! I'm awake!" Asia suddenly woke up, and fell out the bed. Issei almost jumped through the window at her sudden outburst. "Ise-san?! What are you doing in my bed?"

"Wha…? You just entered through the door! This isn't your room."

"Oh." She stood up, looking at the small bedroom."OH."

* * *

After a quick breakfast, our precious Pawn and Rook left to their spot in the woods. They actually had to move several times because all the broken trees and holes. Issei had learned what Shidou was saying. Even though the little girl didn't speak that much, it was nice talking with her. The image of the girl who hit him because he was a pervert had been replaced by a cute girl helping the others… but she still hit him. Less than some weeks ago, but still.

"You look drowsy." This was the last day they would train together. Tomorrow Rias would see the results of their training, and then they would have a day to rest.

"Yeah… I had a strange dream and I couldn't sleep a lot…" Issei yawned, still remembering the shining dragon. It shined with arrogance.

"You train at nights. I hear you scream sometimes… Not last night though." The yawn was contagious, and Koneko copied the yawn. Issei couldn't help but notice that she was very cute.

"Ah… before I forget, I want to give you this. A reward for training me." Issei took out a small package from his school jacket, and gave it to the Rook.

"What is it?" Koneko looked at the strange present with awe. She wasn't prepared for that.

"Open it. I had to do the strangest things to make Buchou buy me those." Koneko unwrapped the packaging, to reveal some fighter gloves. They were black fighter's gloves with pink cat pawprints on the upper palm.

"Um… Do you like them? See if they fit." Issei was a bit embarrassed, but he wanted to repay all the suffering he had done to her. He wasn't the best learner and she got in trouble because of him.

"…Yes… thank you, Issei-senpai." A small smile appeared in her face. The gloves fitted her perfectly, like they were made by a tailor specifically for her. She slowly approached him, and gave him a soft hug. Issei was surprised, but returned the hug. After all, they were friends.

But of course, someone was not happy with the outcome.

"I think I'm going to sleep…" Issei muttered those words before lying down in the ground. Koneko felt the strange magic appear again, but this time she made sure in identifying the magic.

"It can't be…" As soon as she felt the magic, she took a step back. She had to inform Rias about this.

"_Ah, tell me, Rook. Does catnip still work on you?_" It sounded like Issei's voice, but more deep.

"Who are you?" 'Issei' lazily stood up. Quickly switching to a fight pose, Koneko wondered what had happened to Issei. It was clear it was not him, even if it was his body.

"_That doesn't really matter. What matters is that you know that I exist. Who would have known that you actually cared for him? I haven't been surprised so much in such a short span of time." _ 'Issei' started to walk over to Koneko, who was ready to strike.

"_What are you doing? Are you going to kill Hyoudou Issei? I thought you cared about him." _She tried to move, but for some reason she couldn't. What was this?!

"_I'm not going to kill you… yet. How about I make you forget what happened right now? Since I'm kind, I won't do anything to you…" _She was scared, but she didn't show it. Where was Issei? He was still in there.

"_What's this… The demons tried to kill you, and you became one. That was very stupid but clever. Nekoshou, I'll give you the same treat as my host, for a short amount of time. As you are the last sane Nekomata, not counting your precious sister, you'll protect my host until he is strong enough. However… you are still a demon, and far worse than my host." _Issei put a finger between her eyes, and she fell to the ground unconscious. Issei also fell to the ground exhausted.

"_I think she'll live… Ah…_ What the?!" Issei returned back to the Earth. He was sure he slept for a bit and then…

"Issei-senpai? What happened?" A groggy Koneko opened her eyes in the ground.

"I think I slept… and I think you did too… What are you doing?!" The Rook was rolling around in the ground, and covering herself in a strange looking flowers and grass.

"Nyaaaa!" She broke her clothes, and started to bite the strange flower.

"Nya?" Her eyes were red when she looked at Issei, who was shocked, dumbfounded, surprised and astonished.

"What… the fuck… Don't look at me like that!" Did she get high with that plant?! Was that even possible? It was like giving catnip to a cat.

The nekomata started to run after Issei with cute meows and jumps. Issei on the other hand wasn't so happy, and was running towards the mansion. What the actual fuck was happening with her! He just gave her some cute gloves!

"Kiba! Shidou! I need some help! Like a lot!" He started to yell as he got near the mansion, but was cut off when she jumped on his back, and fell to the ground.

"Please don't kill me!" He covered his face fearing the worst. But no killing blow happened.

"Nya…Lights! Hellooo Issei! You make a comfy bed… Kill the butterflies!" She was rubbing her head against his chest. He wouldn't really mind if she hadn't lost almost all her clothing back there. You know, even if he was a pervert, he still had his heart… which would disappear if she started to something else.

"Nya… tired… I'm cold… It keeps pounding…Nya!" I hope she is referring to my heart.

"Senpai? Did you call for…Help." Shidou covered his eyes with his hand before turning back and disappearing. "I'll leave you two alone…"

"This isn't what it looks like! For the love of god…or whoever I'm worshipping! Call someone who isn't Kiba!"

"Nya! The battle trolls are coming! Let's Nya!" She grabbed Issei's hand and dragged him over to the mansion. How was he going to explain this…

* * *

After some… hard explanation that I'm not going to retell, everybody came to the conclusion that she was drugged accidentally. Issei had to train alone, as Koneko was too busy catching butterflies. Or whatever she was thinking.

Thanks to that, he was able to completely control his two new hissatsu techniques. With them, he hoped that at least he would be hard to kill. In this case to be eliminated. But he needed something else. If he knew where they would fight, he could at least develop a basic plan, enough to prevent some unnecessary fighting. But they didn't know where it would be, and that was bad for him and the group. For what he had heard about Raiser, he was a cocky bastard and he will most likely give them the handicap. But there were a lot of variants, and he didn't want to spend some useful time making a plan that wouldn't be used.

"And now I have a freaking dragon that hates everything around me AND doesn't want me to get a harem. This has been a perfect day…"

The word of the dragon echoed around his head. He did accept to be a demon because of getting a harem, but would that even be possible? He was weak, he would be lucky if he even achieved a Medium-Class demon ranking. He could always stay with Rias… but for some reason it felt wrong. If he hadn't accepted that date with Raynare, he would still be a human, perverted and happy of not knowing all this nonsense. Why did it matter now? Was he more aware of his situation now that he wanted to run away? He couldn't, because then Raiser would marry Buchou, and that was outrageous. Even if he fled, someone would haunt him down for being a stray demon.

"I can't even remember the reaction of Koneko to my present… why does it seem like a blur? I remember hugging her… OH GOD. DID WE DO SOMETHING?! I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER!" Could it be even possible to not remember it?! It was too stupid to just sleep randomly. He knew something happened… It was there, he knew it. He was tired, but not enough to just fall down. Wait a second…

"Hey dragon, what the hell happened? You didn't do anything strange right?" Talking to his sacred gear looked stupid, but he didn't really know any other form.

"_You tried to kiss her and she knocked you out._" The jewel lighted up every time he spoke.

"WHAT?! But I don't… WHAT?! And why was she sleeping?! That doesn't make sense!"

"_I don't know, you were sleeping. Maybe she is trying to play with your feelings and she suddenly starts to get close to you. That might be the reason she was next to you."_

"Why would she do that? She is- Don't try to mess with me! Why am I even listening to your opinion? She isn't a bad person!"

"_Whatever, let me rest. You want to win the Rating game, right? Let me sleep and both of us will be stronger." _

The jewel returned to its normal green color, and Issei left his room. Why couldn't he get a nice western red dragon? He just got a strange mix of oriental dragon with steroids and strange wings that hated demons except him. That racist manatee.

* * *

Issei was going to see Koneko, but he heard two familiar voices

"Shidou-kun… Will you tell me something tonight? You shouldn't hide important things to your master, I'm trying to help you." Rias was pulling the feeling card on him, but Shidou was a tough nut to crack.

"I don't know what else you want me to say. Everything I loved or cared is gone. What else is there?" Shidou was

"Why do you act like this? It obviously has affected you, if you tell what happened, I'll give you a reward."

"I'm not Issei, Rias-sama." He was frowning at her blunt attempt.

"You misunderstand me, Shidou-kun. Tell me, does the number ten mean something to you?" His frown was replaced with a face of shock.

"How did you…?"

"She is the true owner of Sandalphon, right? Some months ago three demons were killed by a sword that absorbed any magic attack. Then it disappeared. But in reality you got her sacred gear, to protect her, right?" Issei could see that Shidou wasn't really happy about what Buchou was saying.

"You… researched me?! Why?! You don't deserve to know that! Is this what you think is a reward?!" Rias remained calm, not bothered by his yelling. Issei however, silently summoned Twice Critical, ready to defend his Buchou in any moment.

"She is quite pretty, no wonder why you fell in love with her." Rias handed over a photo, which Shidou took shivering.

"Why are you… referring to her in present?…" Issei calmed down when he saw the other pawn crying. He just guessed it was a photo of her loved one.

"As I told you, there is nobody buried in that church. We didn't found anything and thanks to my brother, they found this. But that leaves me wondering…who did you bury?"

"I remember it… you must have done something wrong! It's impossible! She can't be alive!" He realized something. "But if she's alive…then… I think I'm crazy." Shidou started to cry even more, maybe by happiness or by sadness, he really didn't know.

"It's okay Shidou, when all of this is over, we'll deal with that problem. We need you at 100% in the Rating Game." She reassured him with a soft hug, giving him a shoulder to cry on. Like a mother with her son.

Issei stared awkwardly at the strange hug. It felt wrong to watch it… was it because he was sneaking? Whatever it was, it disappeared when she let him go.

"It's fine if you don't trust me, but give it your best. If we lose, I don't know if we could leave the underworld…"

"Yes, Rias-sama! I'll fight for her!" Drying his tears and with something to fight for, he returned to his room.

The dragon… it said that devils had no heart. He would show him wrong.

"Buchou…" As soon as the other pawn left, Issei stepped forward to see to talk with her. "If we lose… what will happen? Are you going to be all right?" Issei was concerned about her, but he was

"No Ise, I don't think I'll be fine. I'm more concerned about what will happen to you all…" Rias was sad. The chances of winning were still low, but she knew they could win.

"Buchou" Issei grabbed her hand, and she faced him "Even if we lose, I want you to remember that I'll save you. No matter what happens, even if I have to face an entire army or Raiser himself, I swear that I'll bring you back with us. Even if my body is weak… I sure know that my soul isn't!" Even if I have to make a pact with the dragon…

"Ise…" The pink color invaded her cheeks. Issei realized what he said, and blushed too.

"Uh… Yes! Where are we going to fight! I need to prepare a plan!" And there goes the mood.

**Two days until the Rating Game…**

"Let's see the results of your training! Kiba, are you ready?" The knight nodded, as he prepared his best sword.

"Yes, Buchou!" Issei was very nervous. Everyone was watching him, he could lose very… drastically. But at least some good hits. It was all he wanted.

"**Twice Critical! Shoot Mode!**" The appearance of the gauntlet in shoot mode had changed, having a few white rings surrounding his arm, drastically contrasting with his the red gauntlet. The jewel had grown bigger, and got a brighter green color.

Without aiming, he launched three small orbs, too slow to hit Kiba who dodged them easily. Using the same strategy, he made a small barrage of fire, making the knight jump. Seeing that his plan was working, he smiled.

"Now!" He clenched his left hand, and the three orbs he had previously launched became homing missiles.

Realizing his mistake, Kiba dodged one of the small balls of energy and cut the other two with one quick swing. When he turned back, Issei's gauntlet had changed and he was already upon him.

His sacred gear in boost mode had also changed, with yellow spikes appearing from the jewel. The jewel itself had become more rectangular, leaving his sphere form behind. Two small jewel had appeared in his forearm, which Issei guessed was because he was stronger.

_Boost!_

Kiba barely blocked the upcoming fist, and took a step back for caution.

Issei had realized that swordsmen needed a distance between their opponents, or it would be hard to use their swords. So that's what he was going to do, if a Knight can't attack, they are useless.

Not leaving even a second go to waste, Issei launched himself forward. A pair of claws appeared on his gauntlet, and almost passed through Kiba's neck who was quickly enough to avoid it. Even if he had hit him, Asia was there to heal him.

This time it was Kiba's time to attack. Using all his speed he charged Issei who jumped in the air. The Knight, followed him with his own jump but that was exactly what Issei wanted.

Using his wings to stop in mid air, he used them to propel himself towards Kiba. The knight wasn't expecting this and tried to block the upcoming fist with his sword. Issei used the sacred gear to stop the sword, and with his free hand he punched Kiba in the face, falling towards the ground.

Issei kept his balance and landed perfectly. Kiba on the other hand, crashed into the ground.

"That was a good one Issei-san." A drop of blood was coming out of Kiba's nose, but apart from all the dirt and scratches, he was fine.

"I didn't even use… my special abilities!" Issei was proud of his win, and send a thumbs up towards Rias who was smiling at his succeed. He hadn't destroyed a mountain, but hey, he was proud of his achievement.

"Hiding an ace up your sleeve, uh? I'm looking forward to see it." Kiba said. They gave each other a smile and went over towards the others.

"Good job Ise. Now, as Shidou-kun already has some experience with Kiba, he will fight Koneko-chan." They both nodded, and went to the exact position Kiba and Issei were. It would be almost a copycat of his fight, a swordsman and a brawler. He wanted to see the improvements of Shidou, but Koneko should be able to win.

"Sandalphon!" The broadsword appeared from the ground, within a small magic circle. He had no trouble holding it, and it looked natural to him.

Koneko had in her hands the fighter gloves Issei had give her. Certainly it was better to fight with those than in bare hand.

"Go!" Rias gave the signal. Issei had realized that he just started the duel when he wanted. Oh well.

Shidou closed his eyes and channeled his demonic power through the sword. Then with a quick swipe, a wave of energy appeared from the sword. What a rip off.

Koneko dodged the beam with some trouble but kept going forwards. If Shidou was smart, he wouldn't let her close him, but it looked that he had other plans.

Shidou started to attack Koneko with everything he got.

"His fighting style mostly consists of strong, swift physical attacks with demonic power encasement on his sword and body or a high energy attack combined with his sword." Kiba briefly explained. Since he couldn't reach a knight's speed, he used his own power to make a strange boost… Basically he's doing what I'm doing. Still, he doesn't have an anti-demon dragon.

Koneko was dodging everything she could, but then used her augmented strength to stop Sandalphon with her right hand, and with the left one he threw a punch towards his face. However, it never reached its destination.

A strange barrier stopped her punch. They both took a step back, but Shidou was breathing more heavily than Koneko.

"Ara ara, a basic magic shield. He must have trained a lot to block a Rook's strength." Issei heard Akeno a few meters back.

"What a rip off…" He muttered again.

However it seemed like the duel had ended.

This was it. The Rating game was upon them. No more training. If they didn't win, Rias was doomed, as well as her peerage. They would be most likely be enslaved by Raiser, with no way out. Issei had an ace up his sleeve, and Shidou was cooking something too. There was too much to win, and too much to lose. Raiser thought he had the handicap, but there was something that he didn't know. Akeno, Koneko, Asia, Kiba, Shidou and Issei were protecting Rias, and when someone fights to protect they get stronger.

That would be in the normal case. But who knew? Maybe something might break the balance.

* * *

**So much sh*t happened in this chapter! And with this chapter, it ends the happiness. More or less.  
**

**By the way... 15 cm-6 inches. Itte- It hurts?  
**

**Finally, the Rating Game comes... who will win? AHHH! So much tension!**

**The strange entity behind the shadows turns out to be a dragon! Whoa, what a surprise... But it has its own plans, right? It also doesn't like demons. Wonder why? HAHAHAHA!**

**So there was a lot of Koneko in this chapter... don't tell me why, but it turned out like that. Don't worry, the other girls will also have their moments with our Issei! Freaking Issei... why can't he share?!**

**And by all the gods. Apparently everybody loves Ravel. OK, OK, she is going to be in the harem. Just don't ask more about that! I was laughing everytime I read something about Ravel in the reviews...! I'll need to go back to the novels to remember how she was like... I just remember she is a tsundere!**

**That speech about boobs... I don't know where i heard it or if I actually invented it.**

**So who wants some answers to the reviews? **

**-_AllthepeoplewhoaskforRavel_- I ALREADY ANSWER UP THERE! :D**

**-Mr. Light - Have a nice cookie, you deserve it.**

**-The desert angel - You'll see my friend... You'll see. (EVIL LAUGH)**

**-BlueXtreme - You have let me speechless. But YES. I'm mostly doing this because, in canon, he was the Sekiryuutei and not Hyoudou Issei. Sure, he IS the Sekiryuutei, but in this story he is just Issei, a pawn of Rias Gremory. About the swords... Ascalon has almost no chances of appearing.**

**-DragonXDelinquent - I was scared when I started reading your review. I thought you had freaking discovered what was inside before this chapter. But anyways, keep guessing! About his abilities... You are close but no cigar. All those questions will be revealed in the Rating Game. And about the ghost... MUAHAHAHAHA. That is all.**

**-Karlos1234ify - Hmm... You got that right, Issei is trying to tolerate all those emotions... And about the Juggernaut Drive, if i'm correct you need the Balance Breaker first, but if it's not the Boosted Gear or Divine Dividing, it has another name. The beasts something, can't remember. **

**So, next episode... BATTLES EVERYWHERE. New techniques! Fire! And SPOILERS! Share your thoughts... if you want obviously.  
**

**Thanks for reading this story! Until next time!**


	6. It's time to duel!

**Here it is! Some good old 13000 words. Anywasys, Enjoy!**

**UPDATE: Some errors fixed and Lines added. I'm dumb and didn't put them.**

* * *

"Where is she? I know I buried her in this part… I can remember any second of that night." There are 12 hours left before the battle with Raiser and his peerage. Rias gave them a day off to rest, but Shidou couldn't stop thinking about his last talk with her.

If what Rias said was true, then he was really crazy. But it didn't make sense. He remembered that crazy priest killing her… and then after a brief struggle, the priest escaped. Afterwards well… you can imagine what happened.

If he hadn't acquired Sandalphon… things could have been different. She would be alive, he probably wouldn't be a demon and could be free of fighting over something he didn't really cared. Yeah, Rias would be married with a prick, but and what? She didn't implied anything about something happening to them, hell, she only was doing this because she doesn't want to get married. That was probably the only reason he was fighting for. But then…

He was seeing ghosts. No kidding. At first it seemed weird… but it looked like Sandalphon had trapped her spirit. After all, he had lost so much in so little. He would have done anything to talk with her again… Maybe… Maybe the ghosts weren't actually ghosts. What if it was somebody that wanted to manipulate him?

"What is a devil doing in a church? Grieve for the dead?" Behind him there was a tall man with an average build, black hair, golden bangs and black goatee. Even Shidou could feel his powerful aura, meaning he wasn't a human.

"Who are you? Don't you know is a bit late to go to church?" The man appeared to smirk at his joke, but he kept going towards him.

"Ah, that might be true, but you didn't answer my question." Feeling threatened with his rash answer, Shidou stomped the ground to summon his broadsword. This man was obviously someone you didn't want to play around.

"Sandalphon!" After a brief moment the sword appeared from the ground, and started to absorb the holy aura around him. However the man looked even happier than before.

"Oh? I thought the owner of Sandalphon died! It's a relief that you actually got it. Isn't that right, Itsuka Shidou?"

"…Are you a fallen angel? You know this is Gremory territory." Shidou was getting scared. The man had investigated him, it was obvious this wasn't a lucky encounter.

"Indeed I am. But I'm not looking for a fight, Shidou-kun. This meeting is just for scientific purpose! I didn't know I was that intimidating." The man started to laugh, but Shidou was having none of it.

"I'm just being careful… What do you want?" The fallen angel stopped laughing, and even though he still was smiling, his aura turned serious… Was this man insane?

"I just wanted to meet you before you lose in that Rating Game. It's quite rare to find such a… special sacred gear."

"We haven't lost yet. What's so strange about Sandalphon? It just absorbs magic." He loosened the grip on the blade. Even if the man attacked him, he stood no chance.

"You aren't very sharp… I mean your… how do you call it? Kiss x Power?"

"Oh, you mean that… I haven't given it a name. But why? Is it that rare?" He didn't look like a scientific or a researcher. He just looked odd.

"A sacred gear that absorbs everything it touches? Yeah, it's very rare, Sponge-kun. Since I don't want you to kiss me, how about we trade something?" The man had planned this since the beginning. His sly smile told everything.

"Trade what? I already sold my soul to a devil."

"I like you, boy. But no, you give me an example of you power tomorrow, and I give you whatever you want. But don't say something stupid."

"All right… I want to find information about a girl. I thought she was dead but…" Shidou looked at the hole he had made in the ground.

"Seems easy enough… Who is she? Your girlfriend or something?" The man's aura had changed… it seemed more like Issei now.

"You could say that… I have a photo of her right here, if it helps." The pawn searched in his pockets for the piece of paper, and handed it over to the fallen angel.

"Oh… Give her some more years and... I can work with this… Ah, the name?" Yep, totally like Issei.

"Tohka Yatogami. I'll do my part, fallen angel. I hope you do the same." The man showed a strange reaction, but turned back and started to walk away.

"Well, you are not going to get it if you lose. I don't really want to go to that part of the underworld right now. Ah, yes. Before I forgot." The fallen angel looked at Shidou, this time more serious.

"You know the owner of Twice Critical, right? Can you ask him if he has weird itching and pains in his arm? I don't really want to waste my time."

"I thought I was going to lose, why do you want to know?" Shidou asked curiously.

"Well, doesn't matter. If it is a yes, then we will see each other again. Probably." With that, the man walked upstairs and left the basement. What did he mean?

* * *

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, not a cloud could be seen in the sky; by all accounts it was a perfect day.

How curious that my fate should be decided in such a beautiful day, Rias thought while gazing at the horizon, waiting for her peerage to arrive at the Occult Research Clubroom.

Smiling in thanks to the steaming cup of tea that was offered by Akeno she distractedly tasted it while thinking about the coming match.

In many ways she considered herself to be very fortunate, her peerage, her real family, was truly remarkable.

They were all ready to aid in her bid for freedom even in face of what some would call insurmountable odds, even if it meant facing such a daunting opponent.

She knew her odds; she knew that the game had been set so she was at a disadvantage, her family last attempt at controlling her and her dreams.

But she refused to be controlled! To give up her entire life due to the wins of her family! To cease to be Rias, and be only Gremory!

She had a great peerage now. A peerage that had given their all, enduring arduous training without complaint or hesitation, a peerage that had a surprising amount of skill, talent and ability, a peerage that was more than capable of surprising those who thought them weak and surpass all odds, all for her sake.

Trading a meaningful look with her Queen, Rias knew that today would be a defining moment in all their lives, and that if they wished to take control of their fates and be truly free, they would have to prove that even the mighty Phoenix could fall.

"I know Buchou told us to dress in whatever we were most comfortable with, but you really went all out, didn't you?" Kiba asked with a smile, while climbing the stairs to their clubroom.

"Well… This is like my summer clothes… They bring me luck." Shidou was wearing a black, sleeveless shirt beneath a red vest with green shorts with a black belt and red shoes. He didn't really have a magnificent body, but it had improved a bit in the training.

Entering the club room he was quick to notice that he had not been the only one to 'customize' his appearances. Asia was wearing what appeared to be a nun outfit and Akeno was in her Miko clothes, while the rest of the peerage was wearing their school uniforms. At least he didn't feel out of place.

Kiba looked Rias right in the eye and gave her a solemn nod, silently conveying his determination, the fact that he was ready to do whatever was necessary to protect them, to protect his friends and family.

Rias quietly returned the nod, her will and determination clearly visible in her eyes. Smiling he took a seat by her side happily accepting the tea Akeno was offering. He was sure this would be a day to be remembered.

"Issei-senpai, I have some great news for you!" Issei looked at Shidou with skeptic eyes, but then he remembered.

"Don't tell me… She really can?!" Issei didn't hide his enthusiasm.

"Yes! But the best is that she is made of fire! Which means it isn't really safe to.."

"Oh… well, at least I tried." Issei sighed, but he actually was a bit relieved. Who knew the things the spirit would do to him… And not in the good way.

"_Have you no limit? Having sex with a spirit is really messed up._" Issei rolled his eyes. He couldn't answer because then everyone would think he was crazy. Stupid dragon. Thinking he is cool because he has no lower body. That's actually very weird, maybe is because…

"Uh… Senpai." He whispered near his ear. And there he lost his train of thought.

"You are too close, what?" Issei didn't appreciate that he was so close to him. In fact, they looked too friendly in that position.

"Well… does your arm- Ah nothing. Rias-sama, do you know a tall fallen angel with black hair and golden bangs? He looked… important." Rias looked surprise for a moment, but quickly hided it.

"It was probably Azazel, did he talk to you or something?" She found interesting that the leader of the fallen angels talked to his pawn.

"Yeah… He said he was in a… scientific research. He wants to see my sacred gear in action. Do I actually do it?" He actually wanted to know who what she thought about him, but Shidou would do it anyways.

"I don't see why not. Azazel is a fanatic of sacred gears. He probably found you through that encounter Issei had with fallen angels. Did he tell you something else?" He didn't see any reason not to tell him about Issei.

"Yeah, he told me that if Issei's arm was weird, we would probably win." Issei took a step back and hided his left arm behind him. Everybody gave him a strange look.

"W-W-Why are you all looking at me? We will win even if my arm isn't itching! Who is Azazel anyways?"

"The leader of the Fallen Angels." Rias said with a smile.

"WHAT?!" The two pawns said it at the same time, and looked at each other.

"His arm is fine. Nothing to worry about." Koneko had already told Rias about the… situation with his arm, but he just said it loud to calm Issei. She told her he was just having trouble with his demonic power. Of course, that was a blunt lie, but Koneko didn't know.

Shortly after, the magic-circle in the middle of the room started to shine and Grayfia appeared with her usual stoic expression.

"The match will start in ten minutes, is everything ready?"

Standing up Rias looked at her peerage that was standing by her side. "Everything is ready; you may proceed with the Rating Game."

With a small nod Grayfia continued. "When the time comes to start the battle, you will be teleported to the battlefield through this magic-circle. The location of the field is in a different dimension used specifically for battles. You may fight with all your power with no fear for consequences, for it's a disposable space, so feel free to fight to your satisfaction."

"Hey, Buchou?" Issei asked with a curious expression.

"What is it?"

"Buchou, you also have another Bishop, right? Where is that person?"

"Unfortunately, my other Bishop can't participate in this game. I can't say more about it right now, though I promise there will be a time when I will talk about that in the near future."Rias answered in a sad tone while avoiding looking Issei in the eyes.

"Additionally, the Rating Game will be also broadcasted to the underworld in order to allow the members of both households to view the battle." Grayfia continued as if there had been no interruptions.

"Maou Lucifer-sama will also be viewing this battle. Please do not forget about it."

"Onii-sama is? …I see, so Onii-sama is also going to view this battle." Rias interrupted with a thoughtful look in her face.

Looking clearly confused, Issei raised his hand before asking.

"U-Umm, Buchou, you just called Maou-sama 'Onii-sama'…? Or did I hear wrong?"

Noticing that Rias was still in deep thought Kiba answered in her stead.

"No, Buchou's brother is indeed the Maou-sama Lucifer."

"M-Maoooou!? Buchou's Onii-sama is Maou-sama!?"Issei asked shocked by the revelation.

"Yes." Rias answered absentmindedly.

"Are you confused because Buchou's family name is different to the names of the Maous?" Kiba asked the confused looking Pawn.

Issei nodded reluctantly with a slight frown on his face.

"The previous Great War really left the Devils in a critical condition, having lost not only over half of their original clans but also the four original Maous. The death of the Four Great Satans caused a power vacuum that had to be filled if the Devils were to survive, so they decided to keep the names of the Maous as a title and let it be inherited to the ones with enormous powers. So the current Maous are the Ultimate-class Devils that inherited their names and are the successors of the first Maous."

"So Buchou's brother was chosen to be a Maou from the Ultimate-class Devils then?" Issei asked with growing understanding.

"Sirzechs Lucifer, who is also known as the 'Crimson Satan', is Buchou's brother and the most powerful of the Maous." He said while nodding in agreement.

"It's time. Everyone, please head to the magic-circle. Also be warned, once you get transported, you cannot use the magic-circle again until the game ends." Grayfia interrupts.

Her words where meet by only silence, and with one last look at each other the peerage entered the glowing circle and into their first Rating Game.

Shidou's first impression was that nothing had happened, they were still at the clubroom, and everything was in the same place as before they entered the magic-circle.

That impression lasted until he saw the sky trough the window, the completely white sky.

[Hello everyone, I am Grayfia, a maid from the House of Gremory and today I will be the arbiter of the Rating match between the House of Gremory and the House of Phenex.]

Grayfia's voice echoed through the building, as if it was being broadcasted by the school sound system.

[In the name of my Master, Sirzechs Lucifer, I shall make sure this match follows the proper rules. The battlefield shall be a replica of the school, Kuoh academy, which Rias-sama attends to in the human world.]

Shidou was deeply impressed; this dimension that had been created for the game was nearly indistinguishable from the real world, in fact the only apparent difference was the white sky.

[The location where both teams were transported will be their base. Rias-sama's base would be the Occult Research Cub's clubroom located in the old school building. Raiser-sama's base would be the Student Council's room located in the new building. For the Pawns to use promotion, please head to the enemy's base to do it.]

Promotion the ability all Pawn posses to evolve into any of the other pieces, Issei thought while looking at Shidou, If we are to succeed then it will be imperative to deny Raiser's Pawns that chance while making sure Shidou can achieve it.

"Everyone, will you all please put this transceiver in your ears." Rias said cutting his train of thought.

Looking around he saw Akeno giving everyone small ear-piece transceivers.

"At the battlefield, we will be using this to communicate with each other."

So we will be able to stay in contact with all party members and react to orders more efficiently, you really would have made a good guild leader Buchou. He thought with a smile while putting the transceiver in his ear.

[Now it's the time for the commencement of the battle. Please take notice that this match will continue until one of the Kings is defeated or till dawn in the human time. So, let this match start.]

Despite the announcement Rias calmly took a seat and started to explain her plan while Akeno was making some tea.

"First we have to take down Raiser's Pawns. It will be very troublesome if they all promote into Queen." Issei nodded, but quickly interrupted her.

"Sorry, but what are the most direct routes to our base?" He had spent the last day reading a book about sieges. It should make a difference.

"There's a forest near our base, Yuuto, you'll cover that part." Rias said while looking at his knight, who was spreading a very detailed map of the school.

"Yes Buchou." Kiba agreed at her orders.

"The sports ground is also a direct route, so he'll have his servants positioned there. Due to the size of the sports grounds he will probably position one or even both of his Knights there, and probably a few Pawns as back up, probably two or three of them. So he'll have two Knights and three Pawns, a total of five servants here in order to have control of the whole area."

"While that may be true we cannot ignore the possibility of him deploying one of his Bishops there as support due to the unimpeded line of sight provided by the open field nature of the area." Issei said in a serious tone of voice while leaning closer to the map.

While looking momentarily surprised by Issei's insight and sudden change of demeanor, Rias quickly recovered and smiled in approval at her pawn's reasoning.

Stepping forward Kiba said his own thoughts. "Buchou, it's about the Gym near the old school building, shouldn't we occupy this location first? The Gym is a passage to both of the buildings so if we capture it then we will have a route to the new school building and we would also restrain the enemy's movements."

Nodding in approval to Kiba's opinion she proceeded with her plan.

"Yes, I also have the same opinion. First we will capture the Gym. In terms of location, the opponent may have his Rook positioned there, since it's inside a building, it would be better to use the Rook with destructive power over a Knight with mobility."

Closing her eyes in depth thought Rias considered what the best strategy to follow was.

"…Yuuto and Koneko, for the moment you two set a few traps in the forest in order to secure our base. Take another map with you and make sure you mark the places where you set the traps in. I will make a copy afterwards and hand it to everyone."

"Yes."

"…Roger."

They both reply, leaving the room carrying a map and a large tool box with them.

"Everyone else will be on standby until they finish setting up the traps. Oh, Akeno."

"Yes."

"After Yuuto and Koneko return, can you cast illusions and mists around the forest and the sky? Obviously, make it so that it only reacts to Raiser's group. We will start this match by fortifying our position before proceeding."

"I understand, Buchou."Akeno confirms the plan while standing by her side.

She looked at Shidou with determinate eyes.

"Listen up, Shidou. Your first and most important goal in this game will be to use promotion and change into Queen, if you manage to change into the piece with the strongest power the flow of battle will change."

"But it feels weird for me, who am a guy, to turn into a Queen." He replied in slight distress.

Laughing softly at his childish concern, Rias attempted to placate him.

"It's just a name for a role in chess, so you don't have to think too deeply about it. We are already at a disadvantage by having fewer members than Raiser. So you have to prepare yourself to work over the limit. If we lose even a single person, our situation will get even harder."

"Yes Rias-sama, I'll try to beat Raiser."He simply answered.

"Yes, I will be relying on you, Shidou." Issei didn't like how his Buchou was talking with Shidou.

Noticing Kiba and Koneko had just returned Rias gaze turned ferocious, a determined glint in her eyes.

"All right everyone, listen up! Koneko, you and Issei will go to the gym and engage Raiser servants that will undoubtedly be there, you will probably be outnumbered but that's fine, you don't have to win just stall and keep them there. When the time is right I will signal you and you will immediately get out of the building, Akeno, you know what to do."

The predatory smile that Akeno gave to those words was very unnerving.

"Kiba, you will be at the forest, stop any Pawns that appear. If that happens take them out and go to the sports ground."

"Afterwards, Issei and Koneko will meet you there. Shidou, you will leave when I give you the signal. You'll need to pass everyone while they distract them and promote to Queen." Shidou gulped. He hoped that his speed was enough.

"Akeno, after you take out the Gym, Raiser will probably send out his Queen, Yubelluna is very dangerous, she truly earned her epithet as the 'Bomb Queen'. It will be your task to cut her off from interfering."

"I will remain behind with Asia in order to provide support to whoever may need it, everyone understand the plan?"

Looking around the room Shidou's gaze was met by the looks of determination from the rest of the peerage, seeing Rias once again sporting a fierce predatory smile this time he answered in kind with a smile of his own.

* * *

Running alongside Koneko as they neared the Gym Issei tried to ready himself for what he had to do. He looked like nothing, but he was dangerous. Not very dangerous, but he could do some serious damage.

He had a knew the basics to hand to hand combat, and Koneko had taught him some more advanced techniques, but just a few. He also had improved his flexibility, and had adapted his body to hold his boost up to some minutes. If he had trained his body to hold more boosts, it would be just a waste of time, and his strength wouldn't have improved so much. And to finish his set up, he had two new techniques. All thanks to the training of Akeno and Asia.

His only flaw was the time to change the modes in Twice Critical. Not to mention that someone more skilled, stronger or faster than him could beat him in no time. He just hoped that those techniques could balance the battleground, just for a bit.

But he couldn't worry about that. Like Rias had said, he had to focus on stalling, but it didn't matter if he eliminated one or two, right?

Entering the Gym after Koneko his train of thought was diverted to how similar it was to the real deal, it was a perfect copy down to the smallest of details. If someone were to tell him that the battle was happening in the actual school grounds he would believe it in a heartbeat.

"…Enemy." Koneko said simply the moment they entered the building, having already taken her martial arts stance.

"We know you are there, servants of Gremory! We watched you coming inside." A voice proclaimed boldly.

Walking to the middle of the central platform Issei saw that there were four Devils standing at the court.

A woman wearing a chinese dress, a pair of young looking twins, and the staff girl that had defeated him in the clubroom.

Thinking back to Rias explanation he remembered that the woman with the china dress is a [Rook], and the twins and the staff girl are Pawns. Nodding to himself he was glad that Rias deductions were proving right.

"…I will leave the Pawns to you, Ise-senpai, I will take care of the Rook."

"Twice Critical, you know what to do." He said ready to do his part.

_Boost!_

Felling his power increasing the moment he heard those words Issei turned to face his opponents, who were also readying their weapons, a Boo-staff and a pair of chainsaws.

…What the hell! Was all he could think after seeing the twins choice in weaponry.

"Disassembling time!" The twins exclaim happily in a singsong manner.

The sight of a pair of girls rushing towards him while grinding chainsaws at the floor was all it took to shake Issei out of his stupor.

Dodging the first strike he tackled the second twin in order to gain some space between them.

Side stepping another strike Issei allowed a smile to appear on his face, a smile that quickly disappeared when the next strike of the other twin grazed his cheek.

Back stepping in a hurry he started to frantically dodge the speeding strikes before ducking under the staff that suddenly appeared just where his head was a second ago.

'Those chainsaws… if I get rid of them, this will be much easier…'

Calming himself, he let the boost flow through his body, to make things a bit easier. Basic demonic power manipulation.

With those thoughts, the flurry of strikes he was enduring seemed to slow down, allowing him to side step the twirling staff and roll out of the way of another chainsaw strike.

"This is so frustrating!"

"Why isn't it hitting him!?"

The chainsaw twins exclaimed in frustration while stepping on the floor violently.

Issei smiled once again, he had trained hard in order to keep up with the rest of the peerage, so he had to win. He wouldn't be able to face Buchou and the others if he lost in the very start of the match!

Taking a quick look to the side he saw that Koneko was steadily taking her opponent apart in an impressive display of martial arts, even after Raiser's [Rook] had ignited her fists in an attempt to overpower her.

The twins tried to take advantage of this, but Issei already knew what to do. He used Twice Critical to parry one of the chainsaws, which screeched when they both made contact. The second twin was already upon him, but with a quick roll he saved himself. Then he used his leg to hit the girl, but it was blocked by the chainsaw.

Mira, the girl with the bo staff, tried to pin him down in the ground, but Issei quickly side stepped and jumped back.

"Chainsaws, be gone! **Weapon Break!**"

Following his proud announcement, the sound of metal breaking filled the Gym. Both of the chainsaws had broken into tiny pieces, leaving both of the twins vulnerable.

He had always been annoyed when he was peeking and the walls obstructed his vision. Then, after breaking the water bottle in half, he thought of doing that to the walls! But even better, why not do that to the weapons?

With a quick hit in a pressure point Koneko had taught him, both pawns were left unconscious in the ground.

Now there was only one Pawn who could fight…

"**Twice Critical, Shoot Mode!**" He knew of one way to stop a girl right in her tracks… And seeing that she was going to kill him, it was the only perverted way…

She was already upon him, but Issei simply stood there, a gigantic grin on his face.

"_Your behavior amazes me…_" Ignoring the voice in his head, a small blast hit Mira.

The clothes of the Pawn shattered into nothingness, her raged scream filled the air when the pawn ducked down to the ground in order to protect what modesty she had left.

"Think of that as a payback, for hitting me." It wasn't for payback… but it was a good excuse.

"...I misjudged you." Koneko says in a flat tone of voice while standing near her downed opponent.

Those simple words make Issei feel like he had just been impaled trough the heart, but before anything else can be said Rias voice sounds trough their transceivers.

[Ise, Koneko. Can you hear me? It's me Rias.]

"Yes! Both Koneko-chan and I are safe and doing really well right now!"

[That's good to hear, but Akeno's preparations are also complete! So I want you two to move accordingly with the plan! The next phase starts now!]

Upon hearing those words Issei and Koneko immediately dash towards the front doors of the Gym, exiting the building without giving a second glance to the enemies still inside.

Moments after they reach the doors a concentrated lightning storm hits the building. Lightning bold after lightning bolt hits the structure until with a deafening explosion the whole building collapses.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's three [Pawns] and one [Rook] retires!] Grayfia voices sounds through the battlefield.

"That was a good one, Koneko-chan." Issei happily comments while putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Next time find another way to get revenge." Koneko replies in a flat tone of voice while stepping away from him.

"In this case, the end justifies the means, right? Let's go before anything more happens."

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's two Pawns retire!]

"Good one, Kiba!" He said while running towards the sports ground.

A hand grabbed him, and threw him towards the school building. Issei's musings were cut short when a mighty explosion blinded him for a moment.

Scrambling to his feet he saw that Koneko was lying in the middle of a crater, burn marks all over her body.

"K-Koneko-chan!"

Hurrying to her side and holding her in a comforting manner Issei desperately tried to find a way to help.

"…I'm sorry …I saved you… I was useful…" The little girl said in a barely audible tone of voice, tears in her eyes.

"Y-You don't have to apologize! You were doing great! Just wait, once Asia arrives, she can heal you and…"

But before he can finish speaking Koneko's body is enveloped with light and disappears, leaving nothing amidst his arms.

[Rias Gremory-sama's Rook retires.]

"Hahaha, when you hunt a prey the best time to take them down is when the prey is careless due to their success. It's enough for us to 'sacrifice' many of our pieces in order to take down one of you, your group has a small number of members to begin with and that alone will be enough to give a huge damage to our group. Besides even if you defeat us, you cannot defeat Raiser-sama. It's useless to resist." A voice says from above while laughing in amusement at the scene below.

Looking up Issei sees a busty woman with long wavy purple hair that falls in front of her face covering her left eye floating above him, wings spread afar and a cruel smirk on her face.

"Come down here! I'll be your opponent!" He screams in anger, the plan all but forgotten in his rage, making her pay for hurting Koneko-chan the only thought in his mind.

"Fight you? Know your place you inferior being!" Yubelluna retorts in disgust. He snapped her fingers and a huge explosion appeared at his feet.

Even if the explosion had left him deaf for a moment, he swore he heard a male voice.

"Are you okay, Issei-senpai?!" Shidou was standing in front of him, having absorbed the explosion with Sandalphon.

Pointing her finger towards the Pawns a ball of flames forming at its tip, she looked at Issei with sadistic glee.

"You are unworthy of my presence, disappear from my sight!"

But before the sphere of flames could reach him a sudden lightning bolt crosses the clear skies, intercepting the attack before it could hit with a resounding explosion.

"Ara ara. I will be your opponent Yubelluna-san, or would you prefer me to call you the 'Bomb Queen'?"

Akeno daintily proclaims while positioning herself between Yubelluna and the Pawns, a kind smile in her face that was completely contradicted by the sharp look in her eyes.

"You would call me such a vulgar name? No matter, I had hoped to fight you in this game 'Priestess of Thunder', let's see how you fare against a real Queen!"

Yubelluna shouts, making dozens of fire spheres to appear around her.

"Ise-kun, Shidou-kun, go meet up with the others, I will take care of this." Akeno calmly says, lightning cracking at her hands and a faint golden aura enveloping her body.

"B-But…!" Issei tried to protest but is cut short when Akeno looks him in the eyes.

"Ise-kun. You have your own role, correct? Go then and fulfill it, for this matter is my own role to fulfill." Akeno says in a serious tone, dropping her smile, her eyes resolute.

Remembering the plan Issei nods in agreement before running away from the two Queens. "Akeno-san… Make her suffer for me!" He wouldn't forget the pain he caused to Koneko, even if she wasn't dead.

Without taking her eyes from her opponent Akeno nods in return, lightning enveloping her body.

* * *

Running with all his might Issei proceed towards the sports grounds, leaving behind the fierce roars of thunder and the violent sounds of explosions

"Why did she do it? She is stronger than me…" Issei's mind wasn't left at peace. The image of Koneko sacrificing herself for him… it was just stupid. He was the weakest of the group! Why would she do that for?!

"She actually cared for you. Even if she doesn't really let it appear." Shidou was keeping up with him, trying to comfort him. But Issei was just too stubborn.

"No… She knows what will happen if we lose! Rias is more important to her than me…"

The Pawns reached the sport's ground, along with their own Knight. In front of them there eight of them, two Knights, two Bishops, one Rook and three Pawns, half of Raiser's full peerage had been sent to secure the area.

Kiba and Issei had to delay them all… If Shidou didn't beat Raiser, then they were fucked.

"I am Karlamine, one of Raiser-sama's Knights! I hereby challenge one of you to a duel in accordance to my knight's honor!"

A request for a duel in the middle of what was for all intents and purposes a battle royal between two teams? Where did that come from?

His personal puzzlement was only intensified as Kiba solemnly steeped forward before declaring in a loud voice.

"I Kiba, one of Rias-sama's Knights hereby accept your challenge under the weight of my knight's honor!"

"Karlamine, what are you doing!" A kimono wearing girl shouted, if he wasn't mistaken she was a Bishop.

"Do not interfere! This is a Knights duel!" Karlamine calmly said, unsheathing her broadsword, eyes fixed at Kiba's sword wielding form.

"Ignore her, she allowed all that meaningless knights babble to infect her brain, let's take the other two out and then if she loses we take out the last one." Said a young woman with long black hair arranged into five thin ponytails going around her head, a Great sword, a Zweihänder, strapped to her back, the second Knight.

"Whatever, it's not like what you do will matter in the end; I'm not getting involved anyway."Said a blond girl in a pink Victorian style dress in a bored manner before calmly walking to the sidelines and taking a seat in one of the spectator benches at the edge of the field, the other Bishop Raiser's sister Ravel.

And with that Kiba started to move towards the middle of the field, without a single strike being made to stop his advance.

Issei had to stop 7 pieces. All on his own. It was impossible.

He was already devastated by Koneko's demise, and now he had to fight his biggest challenge. It was stupid.

"Don't worry Senpai… I have a plan to make things easier for you, but you'll need to distract them for a second."The pawn made Sandalphon disappear. He had his glare focused in the Bishop with blond hair. What was just…

She was Raiser's sister. She had the same power of immortality and fire. And Shidou was just a fucking bastard.

"I will hate everything about you if you do it, but we need to win." He focused in the Rook, who was probably a big threat.

"That's the spirit! Now, if you excuse me…"

Issei launched himself towards the Rook, who hadn't expected his move. Knocking her for a second, he was stopped by a sword almost cutting his throat.

He jumped back, but two cat girls tried to punch him, and he barely got time to roll out. He needed to use his last technique… but Shidou was still here.

Shidou had started running towards Ravel, who was watching him with awe. Was he trying to get run past them? But he was running towards her…

"Sorry about this, but I have to win." Dodging a fire ball from the other Bishop, Shidou jumped at the blond girl, and kissed her sloppily.

Ravel, although surprised by this… act, used all her power to make the aggressor pay for it. How could a lowly pawn do that to her?!

Shidou was launched in the air with burns all over his body, and fell to the ground with a loud sound.

Issei watched in horror as the only hope of winning was beaten down. The fucking idio-

A pink fire healed all his wounds, and he stood up with a grin in his face.

"Gaining powers by kissing… It sure is a fine power. Sorry about that, but I want to win."

Two bat wings appeared in his back, surrounded by fire. Using his new acquired power he made a ring of fire around the other bishop. Shortly after that, he used his other hand to draw the same symbol around the three pawns, although the cat girls escaped in time.

"Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition!" With those words, fire surrounded the pawn and bishop, leaving behind only the message of Grayfia.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Pawn retires!]

Mihae, the other bishop had a shield of ice covering her. Only small burns were visible.

"And now for the King!" He ran towards the Student Council building, where Raiser's base was at, leaving behind a trail of fire.

"Don't let him get near the building!" Ravel wasn't an idiot. The pawn had somehow gained her powers… Even though his brother would still win, he wouldn't like her failure.

With those orders, the Knight and Pawns began to follow Shidou. Issei tried to stop them but the Rook stood on his way.

"You took me by surprise before. Don't expect me to fall so easily!"

Isabella had a mask on the right side of her face. She was a Rook, so Issei had to dodge any physical attack. He could withstand two or three hits before passing out. But engaging the Rook wouldn't do anything, as he needed to save Shidou from the Knight and Pawns. There was only one way to reach them in time.

"Here I go! Shine brightly! **Burst**!"

_Double Boost!_

His last technique was Burst. Thanks to the training of demonic power, he could power up his own boost. It doubled the power of his normal boost, making him four times stronger than his normal state. However, it consumed a lot of stamina and it didn't last long.

Being in his prime state, Issei couldn't hold back his wings in his back and he could feel his red aura around him. The Rook tried to stop him, but he didn't even look back as he jumped over her. Using his full speed, he rushed over to the Knight.

Seeing the Knight over him, Shidou used a bit of fire magic to make a wall between them, thus stopping her deathly speed to oppose him.

Losing his Burst, Issei put himself between the fire and the Knight. The Pawns also reached their position, shortly after the bishop. The Rook was going to get there in no time. Issei took a bit of time to think on some plan.

Siris the Knight was wielding a Zweihänder, a weapon that should make her slower. Even then, she held the two-handed sword just fine with one hand.

The two pawns, Ni and Li, didn't have any weapons, so they should be experts in hand to hand combat. Or maybe not, as they had cat ears. Maybe they were more like fetish than useful in fight?

Mihae was an expert in ice magic, as showed by her ice shield. According to Akeno, shield's weren't so easy to make.

He needed to get closer to Siris, so the Zweihänder wouldn't be that useful. But her speed was too much for him. He only beat Kiba because he had a plan, and here he didn't have anything. The Pawns wouldn't make it easy for him, and the Rook was getting to his position.

He couldn't win. But he didn't need to. Kiba would end his so called 'honor duel' in no time. Hopefully Akeno would end her battle quickly. She was much stronger than that bitch.

"Let's buy some time… **Burst**!" It was the second time he used burst, but he could feel his heart going top speed. Extending out his claws, he was ready for battle.

_Double Boost!_

He rushed to the Knight, but the two pawns jumped in unison to counter him. Still having his wings, he used them to get a bit faster and avoid the upcoming attack.

A blazing ball of fire shot towards Issei from Mihae from the side. Issei smirked as he held Twice Critical before him. When the fireball came close, the flames were suddenly dispersed into the air as though it were a vacuum. Ravel's eyes narrowed as she watched the feat, while Ni attacked.

With a swift, prodding punch aimed accurately at Issei's throat, Ni forced Issei to sway far back in order to avoid the attack by mere inches. Then, before he could regain his balance in order to counterattack, Ni jumped back and took a safe distance once more.

While he was still off balance, Siris came from behind. The heavy whistling sound of her large sword cleaving through the air alerted Issei to the imminent attack. Spinning to the side, Issei saw as Siris's sword smashed into the ground, leaving a deep indentation where it sunk into the ground.

Issei's lips spread into a feral grin.

"I was waiting for this," he told the Knight even as he moved in to attack.

Siris's eyes went wide as one of Issei's hands grabbed the hilt of her sword, a Zweihänder, and used his other hand to smash his fist against the Knight's temple.

In an instant, Siris's consciousness was broken, and she fell to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. With a quick shake, Issei freed the Zweihänder from Siris's grip.

Feeling his Burst disappearing along with his wings, he destroyed the sword with his Weapon Break.

_Boost!_

Ni and Li charged forward while Isabella went over to Mihae's side. Using all his strength, he launched a powerful punch. It was a powerful blow that could have knocked out one pawn, if it had hit. However, no matter how much stronger than a Pawn Issei might be, without the Burst he couldn't reach their speed. The wideness of those movements meant that for a Pawn, it was simple to see coming, and therefore dodge. Thus, no matter how hard Issei tried, he was unable to hit them.

"Tch!" Issei grunted as Ni's kick cut a thin line across his clothes; he only very narrowly managed to sway back far enough to prevent the leg from meeting flesh.

Immediately, the Phenex Pawn leaped back as a wave of fire swept across the ground, coming up to Issei's knees. Issei jumped high into the air, allowing the fire to wash past beneath him. But as the fire disappeared, Li appeared above him, slamming her fist down onto him. Issei brought his Sacred Gear into a guarding position. The fist slammed against it powerfully, aided by the force of gravity and compounded by Issei's lack of footing. He plunged to the ground, hard.

"Gah!" Issei let out as his back slammed against the grass and dirt painfully.

From the corner of his eye, Issei saw light. More fire, Issei realized. With a grunt, Issei hurriedly rolled over and dodged the wave.

The wide wave of fire swept past Issei, but only where he was did it not touch the ground. Twice Critical stood as a lone guardian, deflecting all the flames that would have otherwise burned its wielder to a crisp.

"Come on… Kiba…" Issei was holding as much as he could.

Dozens of thick daggers of ice formed in the sky above him, causing his eyes to widen as they rained down on top of him. Issei jumped and dove out of the danger zone, narrowly avoiding the ice daggers that pierced into the spot where he had just been lying. However, one missing dagger hit his left leg, making him curse.

At that instant, Ni appeared. She plunged her fist down on Issei, forcing him to use Twice Critical to gently block her fist, shedding the blow at an angle such that it buried itself into the ground just beside Issei. Greedily, Issei tried to kick her, but the pain his leg made him fail. Ni frowned as she retreated back several steps.

They were playing with him… But if he could use another Burst then he could take the two Pawns out.

Which was why the calm little smile on Ravel's face greatly unnerved him.

"Siris, hold him from behind," Ravel said.

Issei's eyes widened too late as he felt two arms hook him underneath his armpits and back up and behind his neck. His body was lifted slightly into the air and arced a little backwards, preventing him from obtaining a proper footing.

"You certainly made this more difficult than it needed to be," Ravel remarked.

"Don't steal my lines. That's what I should be saying, not you," Issei retorted, though he couldn't help but smile.

"Is something funny?" Ravel asked, tilting her head and frowning quizzically upon seeing him smile. "Or is it possible you still have an ace up your sleeve?"

"Of course it's funny. You all are having such a bad time with me. Hyoudou Issei, the weakest Pawn of them all… at least I don't have to wear cat ears" Even though he showed a playful mood, he was depressed. If only he had just a bit more time… "If only I had eliminated the Knight…But I guess, it's true… You beat me."

"Perhaps," Ravel allowed. "But even so, you would still lose in the end. It is impossible for any of you to defeat my brother. Not even that pervert..." At least she hated Shidou now…

As if providing proof of Ravel's words, Grayfia's voice suddenly announced, _"Gremory side, Queen has retired."_

"No way!" Issei said in shock. "Akeno-san lost?"

"Don't be too surprised," Ravel shrugged. "Yubelluna, the Bomb Queen, is about as strong as the Priestess of Thunder. That's why the Pheonix Tears given to her beforehand proved to be the deciding factor."

Issei made a sudden, strong effort to free himself, but Siris's grip was tight, and he remained trapped. He sighed and stopped struggling. "So what are Phoenix Tears?" He asked curiously.

"You don't know about it?" Ravel said, sounding genuinely surprised for the first time.

"I'm a new devil," Issei said, trying to shrug but unable to due to Siris's hold. "There's a lot I don't know."

"Is that so?" Ravel said. She shrugged, and it strangely annoyed Issei seeing her be able to do so when he was currently incapable of it. "Like its name suggests, they are the tears of the Phenex family, and they are capable of healing any and all injuries, instantly and completely."

He couldn't believe this was working. He was just in the brink of lose, but if he kept going with this chat, then Kiba will come to his aid.

"Wait, so not only is your family a bunch of immortal devils," Issei said, "but you can also produce some kind of magic medicine by crying?" Issei shook his head in disbelief. "Your family is way too overpowered."

"It's not that simple," Ravel scowled. "Simply crying doesn't work. There is a special ritual involved in producing them. Besides, a team can only have up to two bottles of Phoenix Tears in a match. Those are the rules."

"Aha… so, why is the sister of the almighty Raiser in his peerage? I didn't know he used his own sister as his slave." The look on Ravel was enough to know that he fucked up.

"I am no one's slave. I am his Bishop," Ravel said icily. "Ni and Li, take him out."

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Knight retires!]

Kiba had won!

The Knight behind him loosened a bit her grip, giving him enough time to kick her. The twins, however, didn't miss their combined attack, leaving his right arm almost useless.

The little hope he had disappeared when he heard a too familiar explosion behind him. He looked up in the sky, to see Raiser's Queen.

[Rias Gremory-sama's Knight retires.]

"That kid is still alive? Take him out, I need to regroup with Raiser-sama." That… He needed to use Burst! It was the only way to beat her!

"_If you use __**Burst **__one more time, your heart will stop. Neither you or Twice Critical is created to withstand various boosts." _ The dragon was helping him. He just needed something else! He needed to reach a new limit!

Looking up in the building, he saw fire and red energy flying around. Buchou was also fighting Raiser. Shidou was also fighting him. Hell, he could even see Asia's blond hair! Everyone was putting all efforts into defeating him.

He couldn't hold back his tears. Koneko had protected him because she thought he was worth it. Rias trusted that he could win this battle. Kiba accepted the duel because he relayed on him.

Yubelluna had taken out Koneko and Kiba… that bitch tried to kill him and Shidou, and now she tried to fight his Buchou? She was fucking dead.

"She won't kill anymore… SHE IS DEAD! **Twice Critical! Perfection!**"

_Fusion Mode!_

Twice Critical glowed with all its might. The red gauntlet extended over his arm, surpassing his elbow, and almost reaching his shoulder. Yellow spikes extended around the new jewels that appeared in his elbow and in his hand. The white rings surrounded most of his hand, flowing with a new kind of magic.

_BOOST!_

"That's it! Everyone dies! **Critical Cannon**!" His Boost and Shoot mode had fused into one. He no longer needed to switch between them. Thus, his energy waves would be stronger.

The wave of energy took by surprise everyone in the group, passing close the Knight and hitting Mihae with all its power.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Bishop retires!]

Ravel couldn't stop blinking at his sudden attack. His power hadn't changed at all! How could he feel so much… overwhelming?!

The Knight was blinded with the sudden light of the wave, and couldn't see the upcoming fist that broke her down.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Knight retires!]

The two twin cat girls attacked from both angles, not believing the sudden change of strategy.

Issei, not having a care in the world in this moment, only fueled by rage, swiftly avoided the attack, and counterattacked with his claws. As soon as they entered Ni's body, she disappeared into shards of light.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Pawn retires!]

Isabella joined the battle, and engaged Issei in a hand to hand combat. She couldn't hold back her fear. Every time he blocked her attacks, it hurt her. Even then, she still fought him.

Issei couldn't use his right arm, and his movements were restricted because of his injured leg. Even then, he didn't feel any pain. He just wanted to protect his friends. But they just got eliminated. Because he wasn't aware of his surroundings, he didn't feel Yubelluna coming behind Koneko, or Kiba. Akeno lost because she cheated… No more! He would protect them with his own life, just as they had done.

Shooting another wave of energy which missed the Rook by an inch, she kept attacking him, until she heard something.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Pawn retires!]

The blast had hit Li, leaving her K.O. with one hit. It was obvious. The pawns just kept jumping and avoiding. They didn't want to get hit, because they were weak to attacks. Just a surprise attack was enough to take them out.

"Why won't you die?!"

Grabbing the Rook's leg, he threw her in the ground. He would need a powerful attack to make her disappear.

"Twice Critical! **Burst **in my left arm!"

_Aukera! Left arm!_

He felt every bone and muscle in his arm explode in pain, but he needed to take her out. With everything he got, he punched her mask, which exploded in tiny shards. Moments after, she was no more.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Rook retires!]

Ravel watched helplessly as the pawn took out four pieces on his own. It was impossible. He was wounded, and even thought his sacred gear changed, it made him even weaker than before. How could he accomplish such a feat?

Issei felt his insides burning. It was like his blood was boiling inside of him, but he couldn't disappear. He heard his heart in every direction. Even though the Burst wasn't in the whole body, his heart hadn't liked it. But he couldn't let everyone die. With those thoughts he ran towards the School Council building, ignoring the pain in his leg.

"Hey," Ravel called out, causing Issei to stop. "It's best if you don't go. If you stay here, you'll be safe. I'll even use my Phoenix Tears on you if you promise not to interfere with my brother's fight."

Issei looked at Ravel. "I can't do that," He said, trying to keep his balance.

"You'll just be retired if you go," Ravel said. "You're strong, I'll admit that. But you are injured. You can't beat him. If you go, you'll just be sacrificed."

"Yes," Issei agreed. "But I'm not going to fight your brother. I have more important things"

"Hmph," Ravel sniffed. "Stubborn fool. Go on, then, if you really want to. I won't stop you."

"Thanks," Issei said as his body walked into the new school building. He winced as he moved, his broken arm was screaming with pain, bleeding profusely. His body was feeling increasingly cold and clammy. He wouldn't last much longer.

**Some minutes before.**

"Rias-sama?! What are you doing here?" Shidou had promoted to Queen, gaining strength, speed and magic ability. As he heard some explosions on the roof, he went over there, just to find Rias fighting Raiser, with Asia healing her.

The roof was big, but the only part where you could fight was just the middle. If Shidou fell, he wouldn't be able to climb back up, so he needed to do this quickly.

Using the bit of power he had from Ravel, he made a sphere of fire. It was as big as a basket ball.

Raiser looked surprised at the familiar magic he was using, but kept smiling smugly. After all, he was immortal. Nothing could beat him.

Annoyed by his grin, Shidou launched the ball of fire, only to be intercepted by Raiser's own fire. They looked to be stable for a moment, but then they exploded. Rias was slightly injured by the explosion, but Asia made it quick and healed her. Ravel's power healed Shidou on his own.

"How… How are you still intact?!" Raiser looked stupidly at the Pawn, who smiled in response.

"I just have a good relationship with your sister." She almost killed him. "If you think about it, it's a bit disgusting. Wouldn't it be like an indirect kiss to you?"

"She is just there for shit and giggles. I just needed her to complete my harem." He said proudly. Until he realized that he had kissed her.

"Wait, you were actually serious with that?! You disgust me…"

Raiser started to summon an enormous wave of fire, big enough to destroy the whole school. Shidou tried to use fire again, but this time nothing appeared.

"Oh shoot. Sandalphon!" Summoning the broadsword, he prepared himself to absorb the attack. How much magic could the sword hold, he didn't know. He just hoped that it was enough.

"Die!" The wave of fire started to burn everything around him, only Sandalphon saving Rias and Asia. Shidou felt the sword shaking with all the magic it was getting, and his grip loosened for a bit. However, red magic dispersed the magic that got through him.

[Rias Gremory-sama's Queen retires.]

"No… Akeno…" Rias' breath was cut off for a moment.

"Are you rethinking the situation? If you give up, your remaining pieces won't suffer that much." Raiser was enjoying the situation.

"We still can beat you!" Shidou answered. He would beat this bastard.

"And who are you exactly? Your life doesn't have a purpose any more, you live without any apparent reasons and will die the exact same way. This world doesn't make sense kid, but what it has sense is to give up before anything more sadistic happens."

"That's what you think, I don't have any purpose in life? And what's your purpose in life, uh? Having a harem? Rias-sama being your slave? A man who doesn't respect the lives around him shouldn't live! That's why I will protect the people I care about!"

"Tch, you are still a kid. Why are you giving me life lessons? Believe me, things like that don't matter down there, you just need people you can use and then dispose of. Every other person will betray you."

"And what about your sister?! Is she also something you can use and then throw away? She is your family!" With every word he was saying, Shidou just kept getting angrier.

"She just does anything I say. It's fun to have her around."

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Knight retires!]

Raiser didn't even move an inch when he heard the message. He certainly didn't care about his peerage.

[Rias Gremory-sama's Knight retires.]

"No… Kiba-san too?" Asia mourned over another loss.

"Ise is still out there…." Rias pointed out, although not with much hope.

"I'm here, Raiser-sama." The moment she saw the Queen, Shidou's face turned in horror. How could he beat the King and Queen? He couldn't!

Rias cursed to herself, those damn phoenix tears.

"And now the other pawn will be eliminated in any second."Raiser simply said.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Bishop retires!]

"Huh?" Riser frowned as he looked up, as if uncertain if Grayfia had truly announced that.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Knight retires!]

"Ise!" Rias shouted happily.

Shidou smiled to himself. He was really doing it.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Pawn retires!]

"Impossible! He was injured when I saw him! He can't be doing this!" Yubelluna tried to defend herself, at the mean look of Raiser.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Pawn retires!]

"This is what happens when you fight to protect Raiser! And this is why you will lose!" Shidou proclaimed proudly.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's one Rook retires!]

"Take this, you damn fried chicken bastard!" Shidou shouted as he held his sword in front of him, a dense mass of potent demonic energy gathering in it. "Die!"

As Shidou's demonic and fire energy shined, just as it began to fire, Rias saw it. A smirk on Riser's face. The kind of expression one had when the opponent fell for a trap.

"Shidou! Look out!" Rias shouted.

Fire exploded loudly around Shidou with such force that Rias could only watch helplessly from behind the barrier she erected to guard herself and Asia as Shidou released a cry of pain when the sword tried to absorb the blast. All the power from Ravel had disappeared.

"Shidou-kun!" Asia cried out as she rushed over to the injured Shidou.

Calmly, Yubelluna held up one hand, causing a magic circle to appear beneath Asia, trapping her in place and preventing her from healing Shidou.

"Asia!" Rias cried out.

"You didn't think I'd keep letting your Bishop heal, did you?" Riser said mockingly. "Not that it matters, of course, but it does drag things out too long. It's over, Rias. Though you did well coming this far, there are no moves left available to you. Checkmate."

"Shut up!" Rias shouted, throwing a bolt of demonic energy at Riser. It struck him, and he regenerated. Seeing that, Rias felt her spirit finally crumble.

Helplessly, Rias fell to her knees. Though Shidou was technically still in the game, He was injured. It was unlikely that he would be able to take them down before she was defeated. And she alone did not have the power to defeat both Yubelluna and Riser at the same time. Asia was sealed. Akeno, Koneko and Kiba were retired. And Issei... well, even if Issei came, there probably wouldn't be much he could do alone.

Was this it? Was this as far as she could go? In the end, everything had gone according to her family's plan. She had fought the best she could, but she had lost, as they knew she would.

Checkmate.

Rias looked up into the air and swore. Floating down from the sky with serenity was Yubelluna.. Her clothes were burnt from electricity, proof of her battle with Akeno, but she looked otherwise completely unharmed.

Rias let out a long breath. Slowly, she stood back to her feet.

"All right, Riser," Rias said, staring very evenly at her hated foe; her soon-to-be husband. "You wi-"

A shining light streaked down from the roof, plummeting to the rooftop like falling star. It struck Yubelluna with a thunderous crash. The next moment, the Queen had lost one of her wings and crashed into the lower roof at the side. The light turned out to be a person.

As soon as he promoted to Queen, he left the building. Issei had used his sacred gear to make an energy wave. He used it on the ground to propel himself and then used his claws to cut her wing.

"First she eliminates Koneko. Then she eliminates Kiba. She cheats and beats Akeno. She tries to kill Shidou, and now she is trapping Asia? Buchou doesn't deserve to see this!" Rias looked at Issei. His eyes had changed. The insecurity had disappeared, and had been replaced by determination. Blood was dripping down his right arm, as well as his left leg. However, it seemed that he didn't care.

"Senpai! If you are here, we can take Raiser down!" Shidou exploded with energy, as seeing his friend coming to help.

"Shut up, I'm doing this my own way. I'll take the so called Queen. You better do your objective."

Staring at the changed Issei, he nodded. Sandalphon was going to eliminate that bastard.

Issei coughed some blood, and fell down to the lower roof. His body couldn't keep up anymore.

"Ise!" He heard Buchou call him.

"_Host, you can't fight anymore. The injuries are too much. Your demonic power is in very low levels, and I can't lend you much more._" Issei clenched his teeth.

"I can't give up… just a bit more! I need to… get revenge!"

He could see the Queen just meters in front of him. She was bleeding too, and looked at Issei with rage.

He heard Raiser scream. Shidou was doing it… he couldn't fail anymore!

"You bastard… Even if you have promoted to Queen, it means nothing! You can't keep up with a real one!"

An explosion occurred just in front of him, making him crash towards a wall. What could he do?! He couldn't use Burst, and Weapon Break was made for- If he used Weapon Break in a person…

"Trying… to kill me with magic? Don't want to… get your hands dirty? What an excuse of a Queen…"

"Do you want to die?!" Yubelluna threw another explosion, but this time Issei ran towards her, it was now or never. The explosion threw him towards her, and with his claws entered one of her eyes.

Issei felt disgusted at his error, but it worked. The Queen screamed in pain, and Issei used a last stand. With all his might he sank his claws in her stomach, making her scream even more. She tried to use her magic, but nothing came out of her hands.

"This isn't… demonic power… It's hol-"

"This is for Koneko!" Issei yelled out. He didn't like doing this to a person, even if she had done those terrible things.

_BOOST!_

With the almost instant Boost, Issei's hand appeared from her back, and instantly disappeared into shards of energy.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's Queen retires!]

He fell to the ground, and accepted his fate. Twice Critical disappeared from his arm, and everything started to hurt. He looked at his left arm, which was covered in burns. He didn't know how it happened, but calmed down and embraced the retirement.

[Rias Gremory-sama's Pawn retires.]

"Uh?" He looked at the sky. He still was in the Rating Game. Then what had…

**Moments before… **

Shidou kicked off the rooftop. Then he took off Riser's arm with a single slash.

"What the?" Riser said dumbly. He looked at the spot where Shidou had been standing only an instant before. There was only a footprint left indented into the rooftop, nearly an inch deep, on that spot. Slowly, his head went to his left arm, which lay beside his foot, detached from his body and burning merrily like a campfire log. A little further behind him was Shidou.

He smiled at Riser, and then attacked again. A storm of steel rained down on Riser, leaving deep gashes that split his body open. Fire burned from those wounds, and with the sheer amount of injuries Shidou was inflicting, it was as though Riser was almost completely on fire.

"Amazing," Rias murmured from where she knelt beside Asia, who was lying in the ground.

Shidou agreed. A Queen's abilities were amazing. As fast as a Knight, as strong as a Rook, and as magically potent as a Bishop...

Through his sheer speed and strength, Shidou was effectively pinning Riser down. The man of the Phenex family grunted as he strove to escape Shidou's relentless assault, but he could not. Wings of brilliant fire erupted from Riser's back. They flapped once, then lifted him high into the air.

Shidou moved like lightning. He jumped back, against the tower wall behind him, and kicked off against it with both feet, leaving his footprints deeply in the stone. He soared and delivered two swift strokes. The wings of flame were cut apart at their base, then absorbed into Sandalphon. Grabbing Riser, the two plummeted back to the roof together. With easy grace, Shidou landed on his feet, falling into a crouching position as the balls of his feet touched the rooftop in order to better absorb the impact of the fall. Riser simply fell, landing in an ungainly heap.

Riser's mind was reeling. It showed, too, in his regeneration. It was only now that he had finally regenerated his severed arm. The rest of his wounds were still recovering.

"Bastard... You fucking bastard!" Riser shouted as he stood back up, completely enraged. "I'll kill you!"

"I'll like to see you try! Efreet!" The flames surrounding Raiser disappeared as they formed a feminine figure. The small familiar swiftly absorbed the fire and went behind his master.

Sandalphon was at its peak of power, flames were surrounding the mighty blade. He just needed to release it, and Raiser would be no more.

The phoenix stood back in fear. A pawn was beating him. His wounds weren't healing quickly enough. He was going to _lose_.

Shidou, using all his speed prepared to give the finishing blow to Raiser. He held Sandalphon with all his strength to beheaded Raiser. However it did not hit.

Shidou saw how time seemed to slow down for him, but Raiser was looking fine. He was astonished, but didn't waste his opportunity. With all his remaining strength, he blasted Shidou dead on.

The explosion knocked Shidou out, who was still in shock. It couldn't be real. He was milliseconds away from winning, how did he lose?!

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's Queen retires!]

"It can't be…"

[Rias Gremory-sama's Pawn retires.]

Sandalphon disappeared along with his user. Rias didn't know what had happened, he just watched Shidou slowing down for a bit… He was fighting seriously, how did that happen?!

He looked at Raiser, but he wasn't there. "Ise!"

"You are going to make the biggest mistake in your live. The moment you touch Rias Gremory, you are dead. It doesn't matter if I'm in a cage, locked away or even dead. I will find you, even if you are in another dimension! Hear me out! You are dead!"

Raiser looked enraged at the Pawn. He had taken no less than 6 pieces, and had contributed in taking another four. He couldn't have Twice Critical! It's impossible! And now he was threaten him!

Issei's wings appeared on his back, thanks to his outburst, but they were different. The black wings had mutated. They still were mainly black, but now they had strange peaks of green and yellow. But the most disturbing was that there were tiny feathers in the tip of them.

"You have… the True Twice Critical…" Raiser took a step back. But he quickly reassured himself, whatever it was, he was beaten down.

Raiser tried to attack him, but somebody stopped him.

"Stop! Raiser… you win…" Rias had stopped him, separating him from his pawn

Issei collapsed in the floor when he heard that, his wings disappearing.

* * *

Sirzechs sighed at the result of the Rating Game. He really hoped that she would win, but it was over now. Nobody in his peerage had the strength to beat Raiser. Even the pawn who had pinned him down lost. Nothing would change if he made him fight with him again.

But there was something that disturbed and amazed him at the same time. The other pawn had taken none less than 6 pieces. He just had Twice Critical. If he was correct, two weeks ago he couldn't even beat a fallen angel, and now he took out the Bomb Queen, even if it was sheer luck. He had advanced so much in so little… could he have the True Twice Critical?

He didn't believe so. Her sister didn't say anything strange about him. If he had it then he would be dead by now. And the Divine Dragons hadn't appeared yet, so it couldn't be.

Stopping those thoughts, he focused in his sister. He couldn't stop the ceremony, but there was something else that could happen.

* * *

"Buchou!" Issei shouted and fell to the ground. He was at his bedroom… They had lost…

He checked his body, and saw that there where bandages in his left arm, but it didn't hurt. The rest of his body was fine. Had Asia done this?

He heard the door of his house open abruptly, and then locking. After a few moments, his door opened to show a stressed Asia.

"Ise-san…" She looked surprised and hugged him. "Are you ok? You were unconscious for three days… I couldn't heal your left arm… and then… and then…" Why was he so stressed?

"Hey, I'm fine. You don't need to worry! You did a good job." Issei smiled, and the Bishop relaxed for a bit, but tensed up again.

"They are coming… Shidou tried to buy time…" She started to cry. What was going on?!

"Who is coming? Don't tell me that Buchou is already…" She nodded, and squeezed him harder.

"Shidou stayed here because she didn't want me to overtax myself… The rest went to the ceremony but… they haven't come back. After that, when I was coming here, those girls from the Rating game appeared and…"

Raiser was trying to capture them. But why? Why couldn't he just tell a blunt lie? Wouldn't this be the last resort?!

"Asia… run, you need to escape." Issei looked at her, and left her comfort.

"N-No! I don't want to leave you!" She protested.

"Asia, I already tried to protect you, and you died. I can't lose you again." His voice was honest. It was a side of Issei that Asia hadn't seen.

"_Host… that offer is still up." _

"All right…"

This was no time to hold back. He would free his friends. This wasn't a time for happiness, and he knew it. From this day on, Issei had changed. To better? To worse? He didn't know, but there was something that hadn't changed. The hope.

* * *

**Woaaaaah! I wonder how Issei did so much damage... I mean, he is still pretty weak! MUAHAHAHA  
**

**Anyways, It took so long to release this because... Well, I keep imagining that Ophis is watching me and is very disturbing. Ok, no, but i was doing some stuff.**

**And there is some Ravel! God! That scene is actually from Leo Septem's crossover with FOZ. It's very good, so check it out. **

**Damn you can definetely see where I'm inspired and where i'm not. I can't help it.**

**So we got some Azazel, some battles and some big question marks. How the hell did Shidou lose... and how did Issei do so much damage? Well, the last one has a lot of hints...**

**I hope there are less grammatical errors in this chapter! I have checked it several time this time, as it's very long.**

**So, let's answer some reviews...**

**_Guest?_- Well, if you say that Keshin was saying demon, it was totally on purpose. If i have put that in any other sentence that wasn't him, then f*ck!**

**_Moon Cat_- Damn, I knew that i had seen that form somewhere... I knew i couldn't be so creative!**

**_Fan Fan_- Everyone will get more screen time, and about Keshin... MUAHAHAHAHA**

**_Guest?_- Yup, Breakdown the beast. And it will have more modes... can't tell you when, but in the near future.**

**blueprintFV- I actually thought about that, but when i checked the DxD wiki i didn't found anything about it. So i just thought I was just thinking of another series or something. But yeah, It's a bit sad if you think of it like that. Poor Issei!**

**_tomy98_- Almost everythin is answered in this chapter, adn about Keshin, i just thought of him that way.**

**_Karlos1234ify_- Yep, obviously Keshin has some motives for doing that, what is it though? And about Issei's dream... What Keshin said is practically what i think. No that extreme, but you get the message.**

**_Guilt of Swords_- I actually just saw the DxD wiki, and it's a juggernaut drive but for other sacred gears. The balance breaker is the full power of a sacred gear. And yeah, i hope this chapter has less errors.**

**So next time... shit hits the fan. I warn you, it won't be pretty. I mean WOW I kinda feel bad for what i'm going to do, but then again... meh!**

**Well, thanks for reading this strange story! Until next time!**


	7. Serious Updaaaaate

Hello everybody.

I wanted to make sure that everyone reads this update, because it is important.

Since the beginning I had thought about two kinds of ending. The very bad one, and the bad one. The very bad one would be following canon, and the bad one would be more… different.

So, to make this nice and easy, I'm having some doubts about continuing the story without making it a crossover.

As I know that not all the people would like this, I made a straw poll regarding this problem.** It should appear in my profile, but first read this note.**

**If I continue this story following cannon, most likely the next chapter will be the last one**. And considering my f*cked up mind, it won't be the most happy chapter in the world, but it would be a nice ending. Well, it would be sad, if I do it correctly. And seeing my perfect skillz, well…

**If I make this a crossover, well, it will be longer** but I would need to 'obviously' move the story to the crossovers part (Just in case somebody hasn't realized it). It would most likely pass the fourth novel, or the second season, but I can't reach that part without making it a crossover, just because it wouldn't make sense. It would most likely be with Date A Live, plus some other ones... so it should be fun. Issei would still be the main character, by the way. The bad thing is that most likely everybody hates this option.

**The final option is to give this story a 'finale' and then make another story, which would be the sequel, but as a crossover.** So it would be like the second option, but just separating the story. You can just stop in the last chapter and be like 'Good ending, but I won't continue it', or actually liking it and follow to the other story.

In my opinion, I think the last option is the best for you all. I'm doing this because… it would be a d*ck move, to just transfer the story to crossovers, and to not give you any other options. I started to think this since the first chapter.

Let's be honest, I actually thought nobody would like the story. It was actually just a what if… fight of Issei having only Twice Critical, and I added the part with Shidou, "in the very small chance" of people actually liking it. Have you seen how I write?! I thought even a toddler could write better than me.

Guess I'm just stupid!

So I'll wait until Sunday, and then when that day comes, you'll see what happens.

Ah! I'm blaming this all to Ophis. Every time I write I think she is watching me… it creeps me the f*ck up!

So yeah… love me or hate me, let's see if we can make a miracle and change the destiny.

Thanks you all for the support! This wouldn't be possible without you all.

Now to wait the hate…


	8. Control

**Damn, this was supposed to go up yesterday, but just the final part had to be rewritten again! It sucked, but oh well. Here you have it, the last chapter. I must warn you, there is torture ahead. Yeah, it probably was very bad written, but just in case somebody wants to be a smartass. So enjoy, i won't bother you all with my misguided judgments. **

* * *

"And you don't know where the other bishop is? That's a shame…" Shidou had decided to stay with Asia to protect her, just like Issei would do. He had tried to contact with the leader of the fallen angels, but he was nowhere to be seen. Was he avoiding him?

"Well… Do you want me to prepare something to eat?" Shidou said. He was a decent cook. After being alone so much, he got bored of eating pre-cooked meals and decided to learn.

"No, no. You have already done too much for me…" She replied back.

"You sure? Issei is still unconscious…" Issei's burns in his left arm didn't heal. Even if Asia healed them, after a short time they reappeared. They didn't look like normal burns, and obviously didn't act like those. They were burns made by holy magic. But it was stupid. How could he make his own holy magic? It was stupid, and dangerous. He would be dead by now.

After that, an awkward silence occurred between them.

"Um… Do you think they are already married?" Asia asked, clearly sad.

"I don't know how long a devil marriage ceremony lasts… They went three hours ago, and haven't come back. Maybe they are just…" Shidou stopped and turned around. He had sense something following them.

"Asia, go with Issei. Make sure he is still there." She looked confused at his sudden reaction but she didn't complain and kept going towards Issei's house.

"I know you are around here! Show yourselves!" He promptly said. Six figures appeared from a wave of fire.

"Stand down Pawn, we have orders to take you all to Raiser-sama's mansion." They were the girls from Raiser's peerage, without the pawns. They all looked very troubled. This time it wasn't a game, he could die right now.

"And why should I listen to him? I only listen to Rias-sama." Barely, but he does.

"The orders came directly from her." The Queen said. But Shidou didn't buy it.

"Ah? And why did you came here, and not my partners? They are surely more adequate than you all." Shidou was nervous. Something bad had happened.

"Listen, you fool! If you don't come with us willingly, we will have to make you!" Why were they so upset?!

"I can come if I want, but you see, my friend Sandalphon doesn't want me to." The broadsword appeared from the ground, directly to Shidou's hands.

The Queen hissed, and created a barrage of fire balls, directly to Shidou. All the other pieces went behind her.

Shidou looked at barrage and with a swing he tried to absorb them all into Sandalphon. But yet again, his body started to slowdown but the barrage didn't. What was going on?

The sword was only able to absorb half of the fireballs, and the other half knocked him unconscious.

* * *

**Back to the present.**

"Uh… Ise-san, who are you talking to?" Was he having illusions? He was talking to his left arm…

'_What are you doing idiot?! Now she will think you are crazy! Agh, bring me to her!'_ The dragon was clearly upset at his behavior. What did he mean bring her to her?

"Uh… How close?" Issei looked at his left arm. Asia was getting worried about him, maybe he had brain damage or something?

'_Touch her or something. I need to know if I can trust her! Quickly or we will be doomed.' _

"But I thought you didn't like me to… All right!" Issei clearly misunderstanding the word 'touch', approached slowly the Bishop.

"Um… Sorry Asia, but this is for the best." Left or right? That is the question. Uhm… they both look good… He would have preferred a bit bigger but… Screw it! At the same time!

Touching her boobs, Issei felt like he had achieved a life goal. The size was perfect! Well, maybe a bit small for his liking but, amazing! They were soft and the-

"Kyaaa! W-W-What are you doing….!" Oh, somehow he completely forgot about her.

"_You idiot… Hi there, Bishop. Quite the past you got there." _Keshin actually talked. His sacred gear was automatically summoned, without Issei's permission. The gems emitted a faint glow.

"Who said that?" Asia, who was covering herself, looked confused around the room.

"_Here, in my host's left arm. Is becoming a demon a new trend or something?... I see that the church is still as incompetent as ever." _

"Would you stop saying demon? Devils! We are devils!" Issei replied. Asia looked at his left arm, not sure what to feel about it.

"_Demon, devil, it's the same to me." _Keshin lazily replied.

"Um… Who are you?" Asia asked the dragon.

"_You do not need to know it, just know that I'm helping my host. I know about your past, and I see that a fallen angel killed you. Like my host, you became a demon because of your sacred gear. The church declared you a witch because of… That's not right… The demon you healed, the wound was self-inflicted. It was probably all planed by him." _Keshin sounded preoccupied at this statement.

"How do you know that? Do you mean that… the devil injured himself so Asia was excommunicated?" Asia looked sad at this statement. So she was manipulated…

"_I told you that the demons you know are an exception. He probably was at the church when she died. If you hadn't delayed that fallen angel so much, you would miss the young girl." _

"…No matter, right now, we have more important things. I'm going to save Buchou and the others, but first, I'll take care of those persons that attacked Shidou."

"_Wait, Bishop. You must not say anything about me. Do it for my host, I know you care deeply about him." _ The dragon pulled the emotions card, which clearly worked in Asia.

"Ah, Yes!" She blushed at his statement. Issei turned around, not seeing the red color invading her face.

"Keshin… I'll refuse to my harem dream. Because I need to be stronger! And for that, I'll only have a large group of girls! Girls I love! " Issei's eyes shined. The dragon said to choose a girl he loves, however he didn't specific a clear amount.

'_You are bastard… Whatever, we'll do a temporal contract. After you save your fellow friends, that power will be disappear, but won't be gone. I must warn you. The chances of dying aren't very high, but they still exist.'_ Issei gulped at his statement, but quickly nodded.

"Yes… What do I need to do?"

'_You are right-handed? Well, your left arm will change a bit, but nothing to worry about. Do you offer your left arm to me, and become the person you want to be?'_

"…Yes, I do."

His sacred gear shined with a blinding white light, before changing to a purple light. Asia, who was looking at the scene, had to cover her eyes because of the glow. Moments after, Issei was standing there, apparently with no change.

"Ise-san? Are you okay?" The pawn turned around. His light brown eyes had now a faint red, giving him a sense of authority. The whole aura around him had changed. He looked like a new person, confident, strong… and scary.

"_Do you want to come with me, Bishop?" _His voice was deeper than before. However, he was still Issei, right?

"Uh? Y-Yes!" She nodded without thinking it twice. It was better than being alone.

"_I warn you though, the first two rows are the splash zone… Hahaha!"_ He opened the door, still laughing at his strange joke. He looked like a maniac with that strange laugh.

After going downstairs, he opened the main door. After grabbing the doorknob, he looked back at Asia, who was following him closely, and smiled at her.

"_Seems like we have visitors." _He opened the door, and looked at the five girls. "_Well, I'll be damned. I thought Raiser cared more about his pieces, but I guess you're all like tissues. Use them and throw them!" _ The girls didn't say anything, but backed away.

"You really are a forbidden devil… It's a suicide mission…" A Rook in a chinese dress said.

"_I didn't know I was this famous! Want an autograph? But sorry, I don't talk with demons." _ He looked around, inspecting every girl. 2 Rooks, 1 Bishop, 1 Knight and a Queen. Piece of cake.

"_You see. This might be my host's influence, but did you all know that every person that is virgin has a bit of holy aura? It's not surprising the fact that you all don't have one. Except my fellow Bishop behind me. Damn, I would burn if I tried to take her-"_ Issei coughed for a bit, trying to forget all that he was saying.

"… We have orders to take both of you to the underworld, or you'll be considered Stray Devils." The Queen spoke up. Asia yelped behind him, but Issei just said one thing.

"_Ehem, yeah, all of you can go to die." _He held up his left hand and made a pistol with his fingers. He aimed at a Rook, and emulating a shot, the Rook fell down. Holy magic is really a bitch if you have it inside your body.

Seeing their comrade fall, the remaining Rook and Knight rushed at him. The Bishop prepared a wave of ice and the Queen flew up in the sky, prepared to make an explosion. Didn't they care that they were in the human world?

_Sword Mode._

A short blade materialized from the jewel in his arm. Not longer than 30 cm, it was green, with tones of purple. It was something Issei had found on his own, but with his lack of sword training, it was very much useless to him.

The Knight appeared from his right, three days ago she would be very fast. That is, if his opponent was the same. Ignoring the fire sword, he sidestepped and made her fall to the ground with a kick. Just as she was falling, the sword barely touched her neck. A moment before her blood covered Issei. The Knight fell to the ground. She would die to blood lose.

"_HAHAHA! God, I'm too overpowered!" _ A sadistic grin appeared in his face.

The moment Issei made the contract, the dragon took control of his body. Issei was still there, watching like his body was acting like a puppet. He wanted to puke. What had he done? The dragon was killing them! Sure, he wanted to be powerful, but only to avoid blood baths! Had he made the wrong choice? Was this the only path to save his friends?

Finishing off the Rook with a quick swing, a shard of ice penetrated his shoulder. He could have avoided it, but he wanted to try something.

"_Fellow Bishop… Care to heal me?" _Asia was currently covering his mouth. She was in shock. It couldn't be Issei! He was her hero! Somebody who had emotions and naïve moments... This person was just… a killer!

'Issei' deflected a barrage of fireballs with his own magic. The shards of ice of the Bishop melted before reaching him.

"_Bishop… care to heal your precious Issei?! He's losing a lot of blooood!" _He looked at her with his red eyes. Asia started to cry, and started to heal him. Thinking over and over, that Issei was still there.

The possessed pawn grinned, losing his sword mode. Issei painfully watched as Asia started to cry. This was wrong… He needed to do something!

However, he watched how his body jumped in the air and grabbed the Queen by the neck. He was so fast… he didn't even have a boost. Could… Could he be also this powerful?

The claws appeared from his gauntlet, tearing her throat apart. Issei didn't want to see more… but yet, he couldn't stop watching.

A cry from Asia returned Keshin to the ground. The Knight with big two handed sword had Asia as a hostage.

"Stop! We need you alive, so stop this nonsense!" However, as hard as Issei tried not to move, his body didn't respond.

"_Ah, that's a shame because I… I… _N-No! Stop! I need to stop!" He fell to the ground, his body having spasms.

The jewel from his sacred gear started to glow. Purple and green battled over for dominance. A storm of emotions rushed through his body. One moment he was laughing, and the other crying. His blood was burning him from inside. He felt his heart trying to escape his body. For first time, he felt the need to cut his left arm. It was like having a bath in hot acid. Was this the low chance of dying he had been warned about?

He saw the Knight and Bishop standing over him. Was this the end? Dying because of letting a dragon control his body? Probably, but he just wanted to help his friends. Being useful for something…

"Asia… R-Run…"

Saying those words, he let his last thought flow… Why was he so useless?

* * *

**One hour before…**

Depression. That was the only emotion that Rias Gremory was feeling right now. She was married to a bastard who only thought of himself. His Onii-sama couldn't do anything about it, but yet he was hiding something. He was too calm. She tried to ask him but the voice of Raiser acclaimed all the attention of the hall.

"I would like to thank everybody for coming to this important ceremony, but if you all let me I would like to announce something else." Raiser was hiding a smile. What was he trying to do?

"Unfortunately, they aren't good news. I have confirmed the existence of something we all hate, and some of us fear. The Shining Dragon has appeared again!"

The voices of all the devils flooded the ceremony hall. Koneko, Kiba and Akeno were all silent, saddened by the marriage of their Buchou. However, they heard Raiser's announcement nice and clear.

"What are you saying! The last one appeared only fifty years ago! How can it appear in such an small span of time?!" A voice called from the crowd.

"Yes, but as you all know, the host of shining dragon dies because of the excess of holy magic in a few days… However sometimes the host can endure the magic, making it a threat to every devil in the underworld. But this time… the host is a devil." Voices exploded again, very skeptic of this news.

"How could you say that? That's unnatural!" Another voice said. What was he trying to say?

"Oh, I thought the same, but you all saw him in action. He took off six of my best pieces." Rias froze in her place. Raiser wanted to kill Issei! She rushed off towards her brother, trying to get his support.

"If you are still skeptic, Sirzechs-sama can confirm it. I'll even show you all the same video I showed him." Rias looked at her brother, who looked at her sadly.

"I'm sorry, Rias. But he is right. Your pawn is the host of the Shining Dragon." Rias lost the strength to stand up. Nothing could be worse.

"This is why my peerage will take him to the underworld, where we will examine him and confirm it."

Koneko, Akeno and Kiba were surrounded by guards. Standing in their battle position, they were ready to fight their own kin.

"Raiser! What is the meaning of this!" Rias spoke up, seeing the rest of her peerage in trouble.

"We must make sure that they aren't influenced by the forbidden devil. It's a precaution." A smile appeared in his stupid face.

"No! Ise can't be the host! He has trained very hard… He wasn't violent against us!" Then again, Raiser's smile didn't disappear.

"Yes, that might be it. Obviously the shining dragon isn't stupid. He hides himself when you show up. If so, how do you explain this?" A screen appeared in one of the walls of the hall. It showed Issei's last stand against Raiser, when two mutated wings appeared. His eyes turned into a faint red, making Raiser stood back.

Rias couldn't believe it. They said that the Shining Dragon controlled his host and had the power to control others. It killed devils for _fun_. But Issei was still Issei! He hadn't done anything bad, he just wanted to protect his friends… The weird itching in his arm was… what if Raiser is really right?

"I want to say that there is no need to worry. I'll take care of this problem just fine."

Sirzechs was still hoping that his plan would work. Even though he hadn't planned that her whole peerage was captivated, the plan would still work. Kill two birds with one stone.

* * *

Shidou woke up in a small stone room. Small couldn't describe the room. It was more like a tiny cell. His chest had burns, as well as both of his hands. The last ones were more recent, had they burnt them so he couldn't use Sandalphon?

"Sandalphon!" He stomped the ground, but no sword appeared.

"Sandalphon!" The magic circle appeared, but something made it disappear. Did the room cancel magic?

"Efreet?" Nothing appeared. He was alone.

Where was he? He fought against those girls… and then that strange slow motion appeared. Was this Raiser's mansion? Maybe it was, but they trapped him here. If that was right, he was in hell. Underworld. Whatever.

Asia and Issei… were they here too? Or had they been able to escape? And the others… they probably were here. Raiser… he probably wants to separate us from Rias. If any of us were with her, she would be stronger mentally. Her will is strong, but for how long? A month, if she is lucky. Koneko, Akeno and in the worst case Asia, if they were here… I hope they aren't in the same case as me. And I hope there aren't any guards that want to take advantage of some prisoners…

Kiba and Issei… What are they going to do to us? I can't be here.

"Damn it! I need to get out of here!" He stood up. The door was made of some kind of metal, iron or steel. There was a strange window, probably to make sure he doesn't do anything.

"Hey you! Stop bickering around, your turn will come!" A devil with a strange helmet said. Turn? Turn for what?

However, before the guard answered, a flintlock pistol shot him down. His head disappeared almost instantly and fell to the ground. Shortly after, the door opened.

As he left of the cell, he saw that nobody was there. Not even the corpse of the guard, whose only remain, was a pool of blood near a wall.

"H-Hello? Anybody…?" There was a long passage, and every twelve steps there was a door with a prisoner in it. For some reason, there weren't any more guards.

"They are securing the Shining Dragon." A voice of a girl said behind him. There was nobody here… was it a prisoner?

He approached a door, where there was a strange man.

"Get out of here stalker." Shidou took some steps back, afraid of the strange voice of the man.

What the hell was going on here? Was he hearing voices?

"Are we lost? Follow my voice! It's hard to rhyme all the time." What the…

He looked at the end of the corridor, where the path splits in three different ways. Why was he listening to that voice? It could be a trap, but then, why kill a guard? Whatever it was, he could help his friends. However, where could he start to look? Everything was pitch black, his devil night vision wasn't working. This was like being a human again… it felt kinda nice.

"Efreet? I'm not in a cell anymore…" He looked around to find his only hope to escape and a source of light. She always appears when she is not needed, but now she disappears? That stupid spirit!

"Looking for this little girl?" The voice from before said.

He looked at his right to find Efreet trapped by somebody. He could only see an arm, covered in a fancy black and red cloth. His familiar was struggling to break free, but her efforts didn't bring her anywhere.

"Hey! Let her go!" Shidou shouted but the voice laughed. What kind of freaks where here?

The familiar emitted a faint pink glow, just enough to see where they were going. The hallways were too narrow for two persons, every now and then voices of the persons inside the cells called him out. They were all mutilated, body parts missing from their body. Right now, he didn't know why those people were there, and he just wanted to free his familiar.

This was just like a prison. Why did Raiser have this? Who were these prisoners, enemies of his family? People who got in his way? War prisoners or some sick stuff?

Finally, it seemed like they had stopped. They were in a dead-end.

"There is no more running away, give me back my familiar!" Not being able to see in the dark was getting on his nerves. Screw being human.

"Shh… What if we get caught? Doesn't this excite you?"

"We have been running for 5 minutes and haven't seen any guards. Who is going to catch us?" Shidou said with a serious face.

"Oh? Maybe her?" A girl grabbed him in a full nelson, being unable to move. Why did he know she was a girl? Because she was pressing her chest against him.

"What the… Who are you all?!" He was struggling to break free, but the girl was too strong. Was she a Rook or something?

"No, no. You got it all wrong. There is only one of us." Shidou tried to understand what she meant, but a kick to his knee was all he needed to go back to the real world.

"Why free me if you are going to kill me? There must be something else…"

"Of course there is, you silly goose. We need you to open this magnificent door!" The girl that was holding him said. He looked in front of him, but the only thing he saw was darkness.

"Uh… I can't see… Something is blocking my demonic powers."

Suddenly, the same pistol that was used to blow the guard's brains away was pointed directly at him. The girl in front of him said something before she pulled the trigger.

"That's cheating!" He yelled before regaining his senses. "Uh?" He saw everything perfectly. How did he regain his powers?

"I cheated time? Open the door, or the next will be real." The girl in front of him disappeared.

"Why don't you open it? It's a male only door or… Ah you know what? I'll open it, if you let me go!" Releasing him, he walked towards the door, not looking back.

There was a strange panel on the side, apparently for his hand to use. He touched it, and almost instantly, his wings appeared on his back. The door opened at his side.

A strange dark mist appeared from door, when he turned around the girls turned also into mist, before he could identify them. He probably had messed something up. Something that would come back to bite him in the ass. Now he had other problems.

"A quick tip, it's always the ear…" He felt how a hand caressed his chin, before disappearing. What did that meant?

"Efreet! Scout ahead. If you find my friends tell me!" The fire spirit had been released the moment the girls disappeared, and was ready to go.

"I'll save you all!"

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

"Why did you kill them? It wasn't necessary…"His body was unconscious, but Issei appeared inside his sacred gear. The fields of crystals had almost a majority of green, but a dark purple was still around.

"…_I have that tick." _Issei looked furious at the dragon, which was looking at him bored.

"Am I supposed to believe that?! You were amazing… But that's exactly the reason why what you did is awful! You could have just… I don't know, knocked them down or something!" The dragon merely laughed at him.

"_How do you knock down a fly? You can't. Are you seriously upset about that?" _ The dragon closed his eyes and lay down in the field.

"Of course I am, you fucking half-dragon! You made me a murderer! What is Buchou going to think about this? And you freaking traumatized Asia! She won't be able to look at me again… Don't control my body never again!" Keshin looked at him, his red eyes investigating him.

"_We are in hell. The moment I control your body again, every demon will come to kill us. The only thing we should be worried about it's the ultimate-class demons, and the former dragon king." _Issei looked at him skeptically.

"Dragon king? There are more dragons other than you?!... Don't try to change of subject!" Issei almost fainted. The only thing he needed to hear was that Keshin was weaker than every dragon in existence.

"_Of course! We are a mighty race!" _The dragon stood up, a feeling of pride invading him.

"Agh, whatever…So these dragon kings… they are the most powerful? As they are kings…" Keshin sighed, but looked at him.

"_The name is confusing, I know. The __Five Great Dragon Kings__ are a group of five, previously six, unique Dragons with high destructive powers, rivaling those of Ultimate-Class Devils or even the Four Great Maous. But they aren't the most powerful." _ Curiosity took over Issei, and shot a barrage of questions at the Shining Dragon.

"You mean there are more powerful dragons?! Even more powerful than Buchou's brother?! And what are you?! A Dragon King or something?! OH! Maybe you are even more powerful than them?!" Keshin laughed a bit at him, but responded sadly.

"_I may be able to take a Dragon King down, but I'm just a High-level dragon. I like to consider myself the strongest of that kind but…Hey, pay attention to me!" _Issei started to drew circles in the ground.

"Oh yeah… so in your best, you can beat a Dragon King? That makes you pretty powerful. And you say there are even more powerful dragons?"

"_Yes… The Two Heavenly Dragons are… stronger than any of them. But even more powerful is the Ouroboros Dragon, who even at its weakest can beat both of the Heavenly Dragons. And don't let me even get started with Great Red… The strongest being in existence! But you don't need to worry about this last two. They barely appear in this world."_

"So… right now, if we escape and you help me, we'll need to face of a dragon king? And this time it's a real dragon, right?"

"_Maybe… my relationship with Tannin is quite… strange." _ Issei looked around and started to pinch his cheek, trying to wake up.

"_The idiot tried to challenge the True Dragon… And it ignored him! Those were good times. But since he became a demon, and I… well, got trapped in this sacred gear, I don't know if he'll like my accomplishments." _

"You know… I thought of you like a parasite, with all that racism against devils, but I guess we can forget that for now... Why do you hate devils? Are you… religious or something?" Issei avoided the glance of the dragon, but he shook his head.

"_No… In the Great War, the angels asked me for help because of my unique powers. Maybe it was then when I started to have this hate. But what I don't like about demons is that they do whatever they please. In Heaven, there are rules, but in the Underworld… well I don't know." _Did the dragon not know what to say?

"Ha, we could say you were a… Heavenly Dragon?! Get it? Because you helped the Heavens…" However Keshin directed him a deathly glare, and approached him.

"_No. I never told you what you would help me on, right? We are going to kill both of the Heavenly Dragons." _

Issei lost his breath. The dragon… HE WAS FUCKING CRAZY! He doesn't know if he can beat a Dragon King, and now he wants to run without even knowing how to walk?! Why didn't he read the terms and conditions?! Not to mention that he almost died fighting normal devils!

A light surrounded Issei, before he could answer back. He looked at the dragon, who grabbed him with his scaly hands.

"_I'll lend you some power, as the contract is still up. However you'll need to be alone. No help from me." _

Pain flowed through his body. Everything hurt.

He looked around. He was in a small white room. There where tools hanging in the walls, and he was in a… bathtub? Was he dreaming? He couldn't be, as he felt his body very well and he was talking with Keshin…

"How is the water? A bit cold?"

He was in a bathtub filled with cold water. He didn't have any clothes on, not even his pants. Every muscle hurt to move, even his eyelids. He looked around to find the source of the voice, but he was behind him, and his neck wasn't moving. He couldn't even see properly, and the only thing he saw was the bathtub and the lights above him.

"Well, don't worry, it will get a bit more warm. After all, how are we going to skin you without scalding you? That wouldn't be fun at all." Fear is the only thing that felt Issei in that moment. He was going to get skinned alive?!

"What… Why…?" His throat was dry. Even saying those words took him an insane amount of strength.

"Uh? For obvious reasons! The other pieces haven't complained! Maybe it was because they couldn't."

"No…" His friends? Tortured?! Why?! And what about Buchou? She was probably with Raiser… That fucking crow with fire! He was the reason for this! That devil was dead!

"I wanted the cat girl or the nun, but they were already chosen. You know the amount of guards behind this door? All assigned to you! And they are the Elite! The best of guards in this mansion! Don't know what you did, but the Phoenix didn't like it!" Cat girl? Nun? Asia and… Koneko, maybe? Why cat girl?

With all he had, he tried to summon his sacred gear. However, he had no power to summon it. Was it because this water? Keshin did say that he would lend him power… but he was even weaker than before! His friends needed his help, but how could he do it if he didn't have any strength?

"Let's get started! So, feeling a bit hot?"

He didn't want to hear the man, he tried to hear something else! The water was starting to get a lot warmer, and it was starting to hurt. Come on… Twice Critical, I need your help! Why aren't you appearing?!

"Damn, those guards can't shut up!" He didn't hear anything, but he did hear a door opening "Could you shut- AHHHH!"

Whatever it was, he didn't like it. Using all his strength, he tried to stood up and get out of the bathtub. However, even the water felt ten times heavier and his efforts were futile.

"Oh? Found you." A pistol was aimed at his forehead, and unable to move, he closed his eyes awaiting his fate.

"I failed…" He heard the trigger, but no sound came. Instead, out of reflex he jumped out of the bathtub, Twice Critical in his arm. What the hell had happened! He felt rejuvenated! It was like Asia's healing, but even with the stamina replenished!

"Your clothes are there." A girl with astonishing beauty, said to him. Blushing, he quickly realized that he was naked in front of a girl. This was even worse than that time with Rias!

The girl disappeared into a black mist, but Issei had already taken a mental picture of her. She has black hair in long twintails… and well shit, he didn't remember more. Uh… a weird outfit and… well she had nice boobs. Can't miss the last one!

Quickly dressing up in his school uniform, he realized that there weren't any guards. Well there was a big pool of blood. Disgusting.

Was this his max? Could he even have the strength to protect his friends?

"_Must I... Must I follow this through? Pardon, my misguided judgments if they are so, but I have trouble seeing the worth and even you must can see that this is all but a wasteful exercise in grim pointlessness. How this resolves is as clear as you've wrote it yourself, as you've seen it before, or perhaps you have. Why save them? Have they done anything worth to be saved? Leave this place and we'll start a new life."_

The dragon talked to him, but Issei started to run. He couldn't be distracted by him. Replying would be a waste of saliva, and the lives of Asia, Koneko, Akeno, Rias, Kiba and Shidou were in his hands. He needed to be a hero, even if heroes died at the end.

"_But look at yourself, still watching, waiting, begging for power! I have given you much more than you can chew, convinced you will starve if you are weaker!_ _Yet still you look on, so unsatisfied, so entitled to strength that you've spent so many times before, so ready you are! To greedily pocket every power the cosmos have sub generously awarded you for doing nothing but absorb your own sick little foolishness!"_

Guards appeared in front of him, filled with fear. Issei's speed was more than enough to pass ran through them, but they kept coming. The hallways were getting wider, and in a moment he had to stop, surrounded by devil guards, trying to hit him with their spears.

"_Turn those empty eyes upon yourselves and reflect in their vast and haunting hopelessness! Plead with your hungry souls, what brailed, what could possibly be gained anymore from these prisons, these inevitable conclusions that you've unjustly raised if only to smother your minds!_ _And commit murder, to what is left for true and human art! Issei Hyoudou! You can be the strongest being in this prison! To break the balance of existence!"_

"All that just for that…" Thirty guards were surrounding Issei, each of them sweating in fear, every movement he did was followed by gasps .These men did not want to die.

"Listen up! I am Hyoudou Issei! The Pawn of Rias-sama, and partner of Kiba, Shidou, Koneko, Akeno and Asia! And I won't stop until I find every single one of them. So you better turn around, and tell where they are!"

However nobody moved and Twice Critical started to shine.

"Shine with all your strength! Balance Breaker!" Issei smiled as every guard started to run.

Keshin was right. He was so immerse in thinking he was weak, that he didn't realize that he could be much more than that! He might be weak compared to peerage, but compared to everyone else here, he was a beast. The mere words of Balance Breaker made everyone run in fear.

Before the last guard ran off, Issei used his incredible speed to grab him by the throat.

"Tell me, Where are the others! Just tell me truth, and I won't harm you." The guard gasped in pain, and Issei released him. It was hard to control his strength, much worse with the power of Keshin flowing through him. So that's what he meant…_Trying to knock out a fly…_

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you! They are in the T-section! But they are spread out! Just follow that direction!" He pointed out to his right, just where he was going.

"Why is it called T-section? Seems like a rushed name." The pawn had asked nicely, but the guard just shivered in fear. He wasn't that intimidating…

"T is for Torture! I don't know more, I swear!"

Torture?...

"Why was I separated from the… others." The guard had started to run before he received his answer.

There was no time to lose. He needed to be fast, his friends needed him. Whatever the cause might be, he needed to stay with them, just as they would have done.

Keshin, however, had other plans for the Pawn. He saw how every guard feared him. They knew of his existence. He couldn't waste much more time in this prison, or his host would end up death. He would do anything to make him leave, even if it meant controlling him again. It was a lose-lose situation, one was stupid and the other of cowards. He would give the boy 10 minutes. No more time. Once those minutes pass, they would escape the Underworld.

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

The ceremony had ended, but there was still a party going on. The events that had occurred a few hours ago hadn't bothered them at all. One man, dressed in a iron armor, approached Raiser, who was getting drunk.

"Raiser-sama. We have the Bishop, a Pawn and the Shining Dragon." The guard whispered at him, who nodded in response.

"Any casualties?" Raiser's voice didn't show any emotions.

"Yes. Two Rooks, a Knight and your Queen." The guard was prepared for anything, but not for the laugh that invaded Raiser.

"Hahaha! Serves them right, for failing me. Oh, well. Have their special treatment began?" Raiser noticed the look on Rias, who as looking at him with hate. He simply smiled at her.

"Everybody has been drugged, they no longer have their power for a brief period of time. Except the Bishop, as you commanded. She should be having her training right now. The only one that hasn't been… dealt with is the Pawn, there weren't any more experts in that regard." That regard was torture.

"Nice. You see? There won't be any problems. Don't bother me anymore."

* * *

Somewhere in the dungeons, Kiba and Koneko watched helplessly as they were both tied up in a table. Kiba's table was more special, as even his fingers were tied up by the strong metal. Probably because of his sacred gear, Sword Birth. Why was this happening? Raiser was a mad man, but to go this far? He didn't expect that.

"My lucky day! Two for the price of one. Now where shall I start?" He opened what it looked like a toolbox, but obviously, they were not tools.

Grabbing a knife, the man approached Koneko, who was still unconscious. Her cat ears and tail had appeared for some reason, maybe because of her limited strength.

"Are? It's a bit rude to be asleep when somebody is talking to you!" With his free hand, he slapped the Nekomata, who should have not feel anything because of her ehnanced stamina. However, she woke up, and almost inmediately looked around confused.

"Hello there, I heard that you were a Rook! That should be a problem to me… But guess what, it isn't!" He raised the knife, and almost immediately stabbed her right hand.

She stopped the scream, but the pain was almost unbearable. Blood flowed down the table, dropping down to the ground. Watching how the blood appeared, the torturer pulled off the knife, raising it again.

"STOP! Leave her alone!" Kiba's cry echoed around the room. He had already lost many friends. Right now he preferred to lose his own life rather than Koneko's.

The man turned around, only to give him a creepy smile.

"Ah, don't worry! You'll get your ration in any moment. Which reminds me, I need to ask at least one question, or you might think I'm torturing you both!" Moving around the table, he stopped at her left side.

"All right cat girl. What do you know about the Shining Dragon?" The man played with the knife, not really caring about the answer.

"I… don't know… what…" Koneko's voice was almost a whisper. She didn't know why was this happening.

"Wrong." The knife once again stabbed her arm, just between the two bones that connected her hand with the elbow.

Even more blood tainted Koneko's dress. The force of the impact launched blood everywhere, some of it mixing with the tears in her face. She held back her scream, but it was even more difficult than the first time. One more time, and she wouldn't be able to do much more.

"Koneko! You bastard! Why don't you take someone more willing to fight!" Kiba tried to taunt the torturer, but no response came.

"What a shame, I think she isn't feeling anything! Let's try something more sensitive…" Pulling out the knife, he approached Koneko's head.

She was filled with tears, but she couldn't give in. She wouldn't let the torturer enjoy her screams. She won't give up.

"They say that cats have good eyesight. So I guess you won't need two of these!" He slowly brought the knife down her eye, with excellent pulse.

She watched hopelessly as the knife was getting closer every second. As much as she wanted to close her eyes, she couldn't. If she closed her eyes, the eyelid would be highly damaged. That was, if she lived throught it.

"No! You fucker, I'm right here! Afraid that I won't be so easy?! Come on! Do me everything, but leave her alone!" Kiba's voice was filled with despair, using every bit of strength to curse the man.

"I guess you are right! I'll just drop this…" He dropped the knife, just in her eye. Even thought the knife was a few milimeters away, the blade was sharp, easily cutting the eye tissue. Luckily, it was only a few moments there, as the man pulled it out and threw it in the air.

Koneko had already lost conciousness when the knife fell into her chest, piercing her left lung. She wouldn't live for much longer.

"Koneko… " Kiba turned his gaze away, and saw how the man grabbed a hammer and some nails.

"This is a much traditional form of torture. 15 nails in each hand, one driven into each finger joint. Let's see if you are so easy!"

* * *

"Damn, I always dreamt of fucking a nun! This must be a dream!"

Unlike the others, Asia wouldn't be tortured. Raiser expecifically wanted her to be her new… piece. Obviously she would need an honorific 'training' as he called it, but it would be easy. She wasn't as rebelious as the others, and her sacred gear could come in handy.

"N-No! Stay away!" Asia backed off against the corner. Two guards were trying to rape her! It couldn't be like this! It couldn't!

"I wonder if those lips can do anything more than small talk…"

"ASIA!" The door broke down and was sent flying towards the wall, impacting one of the guards. Blood started to appear in the ground.

"The Shining… AGH!" Issei quickly grabbed the man and threw him against the wall, losing conciousness. Or Issei hoped so.

"Ise!" Asia looked shocked at the Pawn, not sure if with happiness or fear. But this time he was different, he looked as himself… his eyes said so.

"Thank god you're all right… Quick let's find the others, hop on!" Issei crouched down, waiting for Asia.

"W-What do you mean?" She approached Issei, unsure of what to do.

"A piggy back ride! We need to be quick!" He was sure that the others would need of her powers, only if they found them on time.

Still shaking a bit, Asia quickly jumped on his back, making him lose balance for a bit. Embracing his neck, Issei grabbed her legs and left with an incredible speed. He had no idea where he should go, as he had found Asia because of her voice. It had help that she was just steps away from the entrance. But how would he find the others?

"Ise, look!" Asia pointed at a small pink light at the end of the hallway. It could only mean one thing.

"Efreet!" Issei yelled at the familiar, who was accompanied by another figure.

Reaching them in no time, Issei realized that the figure was none other than Akeno. She had a few cuts in her arms, but was dressed in her battle kimono. Had she fought her way out? Maybe she wasn't drugged like him? But that was stupid, Akeno was much powerful than him.

"Akeno! I'm glad you're fine! How did you escape?!" Smiling a bit at the concerned Issei, she started to talk.

"Shidou appeared and broke me free. It's strange, because I don't have all my powers back…" Issei sighed relieved.

"And where is he? Why would he leave you unprotected?!" He raised his voice, but quickly used his hands to cover his mouth.

"Dealing with the guards. He's going up, towards Raiser."That would explain the lack of security, but Issei wasn't thinking in that. Phenex. He was containing his rage because he made a promise. He would save Buchou and kill Raiser.

"Fine… Efreet, do you know where the others are?" She familiar's face was reflecting sorrow. Something was wrong, and that worried him.

"Akeno, I can't leave Asia here. If the others are…" He avoided her sight, trying to hold back his tears. They couldn't possibly be… They were tough! Even better than him, they will be fine!

"I understand. I'll try to keep up." Akeno nodded at him, serious.

Asia gripped Issei tighter. She also was preparing for the worst, but Shidou, Akeno and Issei were fine. Why wouldn't they be? After all, Koneko was a Rook and Kiba a Knight!

Efreet darted off the narrow hallways, with Issei behind her. The spirit was very fast, even if she hated him, he had to admit that. Even if she was carrying Asia, she was as light as a feather. Not to metion that she was pressing her chest against him, giving him a small boost.

The dragon didn't say anything. He watched how his host was wasting time. They could have ran off and started a new life. His host's master would be most than likely trapped here, along with her peerage, and they could have simply walked off and gain even more strength. But no. The other Pawn had freed the Queen and his host had found the Bishop too quickly. But they were weak. If allowed, he would kill them all and flee, but he had decided to wait 10 minutes. Which now there were left only 5.

Issei heard a scream. He recognized the voice.

"Kiba…" He stopped, watching how the familiar was pointing at the metal door. "Asia, stay here. I'll give you a signal or something." He whispered, letting Asia go.

He clenched his teeth, power flowing throuth Twice Critical.

_Boost!_

With all his strength, he destroyed the metal door, launching it yet again towards wall.

He rushed towards the only man standing up, and with an uppedcut he fell to the ground. His jaw was broken, and he had trouble breathing but he was still alive.

"Kiba, are you-"

Three nails where pinned down on three of his fingers. Blood had covered most of his hand and it was deformed, but Kiba was still conscious, smiling a bit at his saviour.

Issei started to break down the metal grips, which where preventing him to move, but the Knight stopped him.

"Koneko… is there… save her." His voice was broken, but Issei nodded.

Turning around, Issei froze. A pool of blood was surrounding Koneko, both of her hands severely damaged, and even though her eyes where closed, blood was coming out of her right eye. But what affected him the most was the knife sticking out of her chest. He didn't even thought anything about her cat ears and tail. She wasn't moving. He wasn't moving. He stood there, trying to wake up. He wanted to move, but his legs didn't responde.

"K-Koneko!" Clumsily moving, he looked at the sharp object. Could he just remove it?! He didn't know! This couldn't be happening! It just couldn't!

"Ise? Wha-" Asia almost lost consciousness when she saw both Kiba and Koneko. Kiba had freed one of his hands, and pointed her to go with the Rook.

Issei was just staring, blaming himself for not being quick enough. For being too weak. Why did they thought he was strong? For being able to doble his strength? Because fighting a fallen angel? He wasn't strong. He was an idiot that was killed, and he thought that thinking of a better life as a devil would make him feel better. If he just had said no to Raynare, nothing would have happened.

No, it wasn't his fault. Raynare would have killed him anyways. It was _Raiser…_ Because of him, everyone was suffering.

"Ise! Ise! Pull out the knife while I heal the wound!" He returned to the real world, and did as she said.

Slowly pulling out the knife, the green light of Asia's Twilight Healing surrounded her hands. No blood was coming out of the wound, hoping that it was because of her sacred gear.

The knife was completely removed from her, and Asia continued to her eye. Hopefully her optic nerve was untouched.

Issei looked at the bloody knife, and turned back towards the dying tortured. Not thinking of it twice, he stabbed him right in his heart.

He was becoming just what he feared, and the worst part was that he was completely aware of his actions. But that man didn't deserve to live, and he gave him a swift death.

He turned back to see Koneko with no wounds, but she wasn't waking up.

Asia stared a Issei, his shirt covered in Koneko's blood and his hands stained with the torturer's blood.

Koneko wasn't waking up. It was Raiser's fault. Kiba's hand was useless. It was Raiser's fault.. Buchou was married to him. It was Raiser's fault. Akeno had almost been tortured too. It was Raiser's fault. Asia was going to be raped. It was Raiser's fault.

He was going to die.

Not looking back, he left the room, his sacred gear shining brightly. The yells of Asia hadn't stopped him, because he didn't hear them. He just had one thing on his mind.

Revenge.

"Uh…" Asia looked back at the Nekomata, who was trying to move.

"Koneko-chan!" She was breathing! She was alive! She was so happy right now! She needed to tell Issei about this!

"Can I get some help now? Please…"

* * *

"Shh… Tell me, what is this Shining Dragon?"

Shidou had made his way to the top. He had left the dungeons and found himself in some kind of hall. He had knocked out several guards that had tried to stop him, but obviously failed. He just kept hearing the same things. Shining Dragon this, prisoner escapes that.

"The other Pawn! A monster! It kills devils! That's why Raiser is so scared of him!" He had cornered down a guard, to get some answer.

"And why were those people trying to torture Akeno-sama?!"

"He… He said that he was controlling you all!" Shidou sighed, looking at Sandalphon. Was Raiser really that stupid? Or maybe he just wanted to get rid of them? It was probably both.

"Last question, where is Raiser?" He looked around, making sure nobody else was there.

"They should arrive in any moment…" Shidou nodded, and let the guard go. After all, what could he do?

Shidou was getting tired. He was breathing harder, and Sandalphon was starting weigh even more. He wasn't promoted to Queen, and he hadn't any more fire powers. It was a suicide. But then, why was he doing this? Because he knew something that only Raiser knew.

He started to hear voices, followed by some steps. He reached the balcony, and saw the strange sky of the underworld. Below it, he saw a familiar red headed girl, accompanied by a jerk. Yeah, he is using hard words.

He jumped from the balcony, thinking the floor was much closer. But he miscalculated, and made a small crater with his impact. He hadn't broken anything, hopefully.

"Shidou?! Why are you here?!" The voice of Rias was mixed with hope and fear. It was good that he was here, but the reason of why he was there couldn't be good.

"That's what I would like to know, Raiser." Shidou glared at the phoenix. He technically knew why he was there, but he wanted a confession!

"How did you escape! It's impossible!"

"There was a door, and I walked throught it. The best part? The others will arrive soon! I'm sure that Rias-sama's brother won't be so happy when he hears about this!" Raiser growled for a moment, but he quickly hided it with a smile.

"And what? You are probably also under the influence of the Shining Dragon! He won't believe any of you!"

"Do you think so, Raiser?" A familiar voice made Shidou turn around.

She has black hair in long twin tails. Her right eye is red tinted while her left eye appears as a gold, inorganic clock face. Her dress she wears is made out of crimson and black frills, giving her the appearance of an elegant gothic lolita with uneven twin tails. On her head, she wears a big crimson net bow, holding her hair.

"Nightmare? What are you doing… here?" Raiser's voice was filled with respect. Like the time he talked to Grayfia. That girl had saved him, why was she doing it?

"Your fate is already sealed, Raiser. Did you honestly think that what you do in your dungeons would not leave from there? You have a very bad karma... let's see what Sirzechs has to say about this!" Maybe she was sent from Maou? There was no way to tell, as she had already disappeared when he looked again.

"No matter! I have the Shining Dragon! Where will he locked him up if I'm arrested?!" Raiser shouted towards the sky.

"Are you expecting me to believe that? For what I know, Issei hasn't killed anyone! He can't be the famous Shining Dragon! How are you so sure?!" Rias slowly backed away, trying to get a good position.

"You think so? He has killed 4 devils today! The fact that he hasn't killed you, it's just another reason to assume that HE is the Shining Dragon!" Shidou grimaced.

"They were trying to take Asia along with him! It was selfdefense, I'm sure of it! If he beated six pieces before, it would be a piece of cake for him…!"

An explosion almost sent flying Shidou, who was knocked down by the ripple effect. Both Raiser and Rias erected their own barriers, surprised by the explosion.

Part of Raiser's mansion was destroyed by the explosion. Fire was spreading in the upper levels, and the screams of guards on fire filled the empty sky.

In all the wreckage, a figure stood up, dragging something behind it. The figure had some bat wings behind him, and slowly landed in the ground.

"Ise…?" Issei's eyes lacked of emotion. He didn't even looked at Rias, nor at Shidou. Something had happened to him.

"Do you want your sister? Give me Rias, and everything will be fine." Issei without any efforts grabbed Ravel by her collar. She was cursing him. A lot.

"How did you… I don't care about her! You can throw her away if you want." A pair of golden flames appeared of Raiser's back, ascending a few meters. He was ready to fight.

"What?! How can you say that! I thought you…!" Ravel's shocked state vanished when she was dropped to ground. Rias watched the changed Issei, what could possibly had happened to him¿

"There is nothing about this whole scenario that doesn't make me so disgusted that I want to violently vomit out my own internal organs, I despise you so intensely, that I can't tell if my vision is blurry from my near death experience or from my unforgiving rage." Ravel went with Shidou, who was pointing her to move from Issei. He didn't like what was happening, and readied his broadsword just in case.

"You are nothing but a monster, which only cares about himself, not even caring of the small amount of people who loves you. You tried to torture my friends and me. You married my Buchou, and I have a promise to fulfill."

Twice Critical started to glow, making it look like a living lamp.

"I will outshine the Sun for everyone I love! **Balance Breaker!**"

The light that appeared from the Sacred Gear blinded everybody. Even Issei had to close his eyes tightly, as he felt his left eye burning from the light. He felt how his left leg and arm started to burn, and he screamed in agony.

Moments before, the light died down. Issei's sacred gear had disappeared, he looked normal. Had he failed to achieve the forbidden move?!

"You are a failure after all! Goodbye!" Raiser created a wave of fire directed at Issei. He looked reprouchfully at his arm, who felt better than ever. What happened? He did everything right! He had the right emotions as the dragon said! Why would he lie?!

Issei started to ran towards Phenex. He couldn't die, he needed to avenge his friends!

"Ise!"

"Senpai!"

Shidou had moved enough to absorb part of the wave of fire with Sandalphon. Rias had blocked the rest of the fire, protecting Issei. However a missing fire blast was dismissed by an odd looking sword.

"Kiba?!" The Knight had his wounds healed. He had came to save them!

"Hello, Rias-sama. The cavalry has arrived!"

Issei felt someone nearby, and turned around. Akeno, Asia and… Koneko?! How…?!

"Koneko?! How… I…?!" Tears filled with happines appeared in Issei's face.

"I couldn't become a part of the fight last time, even then you hugged me…" Koneko said with a little smile.

"We have all something to fight for! Even if it's sad, it's something unique for all of us." Shidou said.

"Issei… you became much stronger than I thought. I also want to avenge my friends… but you need to realize, you are not alone. We share the same concept, you don't need to hold all the responsability!" Kiba said, realizing something.

"We don't have full power, but it's enough to beat him. We are all here after all." Akeno pointed out. She, Koneko and Kiba were still with the aftereffects of that strange drug.

"Everybody… let's beat Raiser! It doesn't matter if we are 7 persons, we are united in one heart!" Issei said, raising his left arm in the air.

His sacred gear reappeared. This time it didn't have all the fancy yellow spikes, or the blue rings around it. It was full red ,with green jewels. The true colors of Issei!

Issei and Shidou ran towards Raiser, while Kiba and Koneko tried to sneak behind him as they didn't have their full strength. Meanwhile, Rias shared a bit of her energy to Akeno, so she could use a bit of her magic, even if it wasn't enough to do some real damage.

"This time you'll go down! **Balance Breaker!**" Issei jumped in the air, Twice Critical shining like there was no tomorrow.

_Shining Dragon! Over Burst!_

Twice Critical started to expand until his shoulder. A bright green wire appeared from it, and it went over his spinal column. It reached his legs, and then a red armor started to appear in them, covering them in the red metal. In his knees, a jewel appeared, not much bigger than the one in his arm. His right arm also began to be surrounded by the metal, becoming an exact replica of his left arm. In his chest, no armor appeared, but a green jewel appeared just above his heart. Strange looking wires that came from his legs and arms connected there.

_60 seconds…_

"Senpai, jump on my sword!" Shidou said, as he moved ahead of him. Issei's full black wings appeared in his back, ready to jump in the improvised catapult. He was using his own power, without any help from the dragon.

_Boost!_

In the sky, red destructive energy clashed against the fire of Raiser, who tried to hit both of the pawns.

"What are you doing Rias?! We are now married! You know what will happen!" Raiser's wings started to get even brighter and bigger.

"Would you shut up for once?!" Rias answered. She would support her peerage, no matter the cause.

"GO!" Shidou used all his strength to launch Issei in the air, and hoped he had aimed properly.

"**Burst!**"

_Double Boost!_

Raiser watched how Issei was catapulted towards him, and instead of dodging, he went towards him, a wall of fire acting as a shield.

Both of their energies clashed in the air, and Issei's light red energy was getting pushed back. Issei didn't know how to fly, but the armor in his legs acted like a propulsor.

"Even more! **Burst! Burst! Burst!**"

_Double Boost!_

_Double Boost!_

_Double Boost!_

"Break throught the limits! **Burst!**"

_Triple Boost!_

The ammount of pressure Issei was substaining was much more than his body could handle, but the balance breaker seemed to increase that limit.

For a moment, both of the energies had canceled each other. But then it exploded, sending them both to the ground. Ash covered the battleground, making it almost impossible to see.

_45 seconds…_

Out of nowhere, Koneko kicked Raiser in the head, making him dizzy for a second. He turned around, and tried to punch her, but his arm fell to the ground and exploded in flames. Kiba had cut it with little to no effort.

Then, an immense ammount of pain surged in his chest. As he looked down he saw Sandalphon, that was preventing the healing of his wounds. With his only hand, he tried to punch Shidou, but he used his leg to retrieve the broadsword from his body, making him yell in pain.

As the vision became more clear, Raiser started to heal his wounds, but Issei quickly reached his position. His speed had far surpassed his limit, making him almost a blur. He then punched Raiser in the open wound that had made Shidou, making him fell to the ground.

_Absorb!_

Even though it hadn't done much here, it was an ability given by the forbidden move, it could absorb a small fraction of the opponents power. It could absorb as much as Issei could. That meant that if he had more boosts, he would absorb less. So right now, he has two strategies, or reach his opponents level, or making the opponent fell to his level, but he couldn't use both of those strategies at the same time as it wouldn't be efficient for his body. And again, it depends of Issei's own energy capacity.

"Fuck! I have an instant fix for all this!" Raiser released his full power, ready to launch it towards the whole peerage. Issei did the same, preparing his signature move.

"Damn right you are!" Energy from his whole body was gathering in his left hand. Raiser could be beaten if he could launch a considerable ammount of energy to erase him from the world.

"Ise, let me help!" Rias joined Issei, and prepared a magical symbol in her right palm, matching Issei's left arm.

_30 seconds…_

"Now! **Critical Cannon!**"

Both of their energies fused in one, meeting Raiser's fire in the middle. At first, it seemed like it would be like that forever, but a lightning made them explode.

"Akeno! Why would…?" Rias yelled just before seeing someone behind his 'husband'.

Shidou bite off his ear, and they both fell to the ground.

Ravel watched in the distance, not sure if wanting to feel sad or happy about her brother. After all, he had openly declared that she didn't matter to him.

"What… the fuck?" Efreet darted off towards her master, fire envolving her.

The fire started to envelope her and it grew to human side. Issei looked with dissappoint at the human form, as it looked more like a little sister… well he would still hit her.

She looked at Shidou and sat in top of him. Moments after, she kissed him, and she turned into ashes, returning to her normal form.

"AH!" Shidou suddenly woke up, and looked at Raiser who was still groggy in the ground. "Hey! I stole his powers!"

_15 seconds... _

Issei fell to one knee, his armor breaking in pieces. He started to breathe heavily but he stood up, seeing Rias smiling at him. They had done it!

"How did you know that Raiser's weak spot was in his ear?" Kiba asked, seeing Raiser's ear bleeding actual blood.

"Uh… a weird lady told me. She helped me escape." Shidou said while checking his body.

Issei looked at Raiser. He had promised to do one thing, and he would do it.

"Buchou is married to you. I don't know how marriage works in the underworld, but in any case you need to die."

He no longer had regeneration. He didn't look back at the others, if only to ask their opinion. But if this man was alive…

"I told you. The moment you touched Buchou you would regret it. But you didn't listen, and this is your punishment. This could have been different, I could have been stronger and have beaten you back then, but what's done is done. I have no remorse of what has happened, and probably I won't have any remorse with your death. Goodbye, Raiser."

He used the rest of his energy to erase every fraction of him. Even if he was the worst man in history, Issei would give him a quick and clean dead.

_And 0… Time to do the clean up._

Issei fell to the ground, puking blood, just before he delivered the final blow. His sacred gear started to shine in green and purple, just like last time but even stronger. Pain was the only thing he felt, but even more in his eyes, they were switching colors every now and then.

"Issei! Are you-" Kiba said, but was stopped by Issei's right hand.

"Run…_ Damn it!_" Issei rolled in the ground, realizing something. The rage… the sadness… his weakness…

Negative emotions did not make him stronger. It made Keshin stronger. Everything he had suffered… it was making him stronger. He didn't do it for him. Why was he so naïve? That's why the balance breaker didn't work the first time! That whole energy transferred to Keshin! He was right… he was just a parasite!

That was it! The reason he didn't want him to be perverted! Those little moments of happiness, it didn't make him stronger, or maybe it weakened him! The harem… he almost sacrificed that dream, just for power.

"_Don't make this harder than it… _Come on! A bit of help!" Issei yelled. Everyone looked at him without knowing what was happening. However, Rias approached him without second thoughts.

"Ise! What's happening to you!"

"Positive emotions…! _No! Shut up!_" Issei's voice was cracking everytime it switched tones.

He jumped, throwing Rias to the ground, standing in top of her. The others quickly approached him but stopped.

"Issei-senpai… you are a pervert." Koneko said.

Issei was kissing Rias, while touching her boobs. Right now, he was feeling full happiness. They weren't like Asia's. They felt good too, but different! It was like… Wasn't he feeling bad a few moments ago? Wait, why was he doing this?

Who would have thought, that being perverted, more than a flaw saved his life.

"All right Romeo, you don't do that in the first date." Shidou grabbed Issei by the collar and separated him from Rias who was blushing heavily.

"I ALMOST DIED! I do have an excuse…" Issei started to blush when he saw Rias in the floor, trying to figure out what just happened. He really was desperate at that time… But he was back! No more cheating the way to the top!

"Yeah, we know that you are… well, a pervert. What happened back there anyways?" Shidou asked, saying what everyone was thinking.

"Um… I have a dragon that is trying to kill us all! Sorry for not telling you all! Sorry, Sorry!" Issei bowed down like a robot. It got everyone almost by surprise. Except for three persons.

Koneko didn't even flinch. It was like she already knew, but it was the first time she had heard it. But she usually doesn't express her emotions. So it's not really strange.

However, Shidou and Rias had troubled faces. Maybe she was just getting over of what he did… Damn, she was going to hit him! He hoped that his explanation was going to solve everything.

Shidou, on the other hand, noticed him and smiled. What was he so happy for? He was just looking at him weird a few momets ago!

"Negative emotions made him stronger… and uh… he tried to take my body back there. So I just thought that the best thing was getting positive emotions."

"So what you are saying… is that being a pervert just saved your life? Is this some kind of joke?" Shidou said with a serious face.

"...I'm alive thanks to that! So now you can't judge me if my hands slip or if I peek or if your clothes disappear, or if I fall in top of you, and more ocasional stuff that will happen from now on!"

"Ise… Next time warn me before you do that." Rias said while fixing her dress. It took her by surprise but she enjoyed it a bit.

"Y-Yes… Am I going to get in trouble for…" Issei tried to say, but somebody stopped him.

"There is a small chance, Hyoudou Issei." He looked at his right to see a young man with shoulder length crimson red hair and blue-green eyes, similar to Rias. Better yet, just imagine a male version of Rias. It's kind of creepy actually.

"Onii-sama?! What are you doing here?!" Rias said behind Issei.

"We actually came here to announce the detention of Raiser Phenex, for torture, corruption, immoral experiments and for locking 200 devils for said experiments. Lord Phenex is already informed of this, and he has disposed of his wealth and belongings." The man says happily.

"Immoral experiments? Don't you mean inhum- oh, that's right." Shidou muttered.

"Synthetic Phoenix Tears*. Not only he has sold them to various groups, he was testing them on various subjects. Obviously, they needed to see if it regenerated limbs, so they cut or deform them." How can he keep a straight face with all of that?

"And what about me?" Ravel had been hearing the conversation, but now she decided to act.

"You'll have to talk about that with your father." He said while looking at the destroyed mansion.

"How do you know all of that?" Rias asked, looking at his brother.

"I hired a special agent. Did you really think I would leave you alone with him?" He smiled at his little sister.

"Don't tell me… That crazy girl with a clock eye?" Shidou gulped. She was really creepy. And he just talked to the Maou without any manners! Oh man…

"Yes. But let's not talk about this. Since our family doesn't want any consecuences about this, you won't be married much longer." Rias happiness exploded over the top. She literally jumped at the news, hiding a smile in her hands.

"Issei-san, may we talk for a moment? There is something I want to discuss with you." Issei was already worn out, and now the most powerful devil wanted to talk with him. This wasn't going to be pretty indeed.

**A week later…**

* * *

"So, everything is fine now, right?" Shidou was walking along Issei, Rias and Asia. Now they were just trying to forget everything that happened a few days ago. And what is best to forget than going to school? Genius plan.

"Kind of. I still have a genocide dragon inside me and the sacred gear doesn't disappear if somebody doesn't suck the magic…" And now he is being perverted again. Guess everything is normal.

"Why is Rias-sama coming with us… Nevermind." He realizes that at least two girls are after him… right? Or maybe he just ignores it. Or maybe he is one of those harem protagonist that doesn't see anything even if it happens in his face. Perhaps he does know, but if he chooses then one will get sad and then he will feel bad? That seems too complicated for him.

"This is awkward…" Shidou backed away from them, as Rias and Asia started to discuss with each other. And there is Issei enjoying and not knowing what to do.

So, Rias may had already feelings for him but he saved her from that marriage. Asia… the same deal. This is becoming a cliché. Now he just needs a yandere that tries to kill him. And a loli. And some twins. And some kind of girl with the power to destroy the world but doesn't know about it. Don't forget the cat girl. Hell, this is becoming a freak show. More than before I mean.

"Isn't there a normal girl out there? I guess they don't exist." Shidou say to nobody in particular.

"But sanity doesn't exist." A girl said behind him. "Everyone is insane to some degree. Some less than others, some more."

Shidou turned back, but saw no one. The last time this happened…

"If you think you're normal, you're not. You are just less insane than others."

"Uh… senpai? I need some help." When did they leave?! Everything is so… gray right now.

"If everyone was normal, this world would be boring." He felt the pressure of an object against his temple, and the soft breathing of the same girl behind him. He started to panic…

"Insanity is what gives this world stimulation and fun. So, Shidou-kun, let's be insane…"

The last thing he remembered was the a loud noise before passing away.

…

"Uh… wasn't Shidou with us? I guess he left." Issei asked at the two girls at his sides. They didn't seem to hear him, and he just kept going towards the school.

Even though Issei was happy, he couldn't help but to feel nervous. After all, bad things tend to happen, even if you don't want them. What if he couldn't control himself, like last time? He was still weak compared to the others, but the dragon inside him wasn't.

Sirchezs had made it clear. He had kill four members of a peerage and a not specified amount of guards. If he was still alive was because he was useful to him. Right now the leader of the Four Maous had his live in his hands. Not because he was Hyoudou Issei, because he was the Shining Dragon.

Yet again, nobody cared about him. He was still just a host, a vessel, for something mightier than him. He was still, useless.

* * *

**A shame I lost the original chapter, because i liked way more that ending. It was sadder (Isn't it more sad?) But, i guessed people would like it more like this, it doesn't really affect much. I guess now it's a happy ending. DAMN DUDE.  
**

**Anyways, as I'm a jerk, I left kind of an open ending. However, I don't know when, I'll upload the very bad ending. I suppose you can all think of it.**

**So I don't have much time today, so i won't be answering any reviews. Sorry!**

**The sequel will come out... in a week or so. I don't really know. It will come out for sure! **

**And by the way, you'll notice a (*) in the chapter. I'm just saying clarifying that it isn't something i pulled out my butt. It will have a great effect... Seriously!**

**A quick thing, in this chapter Ravel was supposed to have much more pain than that, but apparently everyone loves her. So it isn't that much.**

**And to end this... Anybody loves mistery? Because I kinda have a surprise...**

**And the most important thing. Thank you all for the support! Seriously! I mean it! I just did this story for sh*t and giggles, I didn't think people would like it! Thank you very much for reading it! **

**And now towards the sequel! Hope to see you there!**


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